This Lost Soul
by Master of The Blood Wolves
Summary: A young dragon with amnesia is taken in by the Guardians of the Dragonets of Destiny. Escaping the mountain following a misunderstanding, he joins a duo of renegades in a journey across Pyrrhia while ghosts from his past search for him, ending in a showdown that will determine his fate.
1. Chapter 1

This Lost Soul

Chapter I

Awakening

**Disclaimer: I own neither the Legend of Spyro nor Wings of Fire.**

**Author's Note: I really liked Wings of Fire.**

**After all the crap with these stupid Skylanders games, it was nice to have a series that had so much in common with Spyro, yet at the same time was distinctly different.**

**I was delighted to see this fandom spring into existence on Fanfiction, but I must say I shake my head at some of the stories.**

**Not that I disapprove,-some of them are really good,-and it's always good to see beginners trying their hand at fan fiction.**

**Naomi Novik started out writing fan fiction and she's gone on to write the Temeraire series, which is easily a modern classic on par with some of the big ones of the last century.**

**That said, a lot of them tend to have glaring mistakes that just turn me off:**

**Formatting, characterisation…**

**I try to be fair, but I think I may have been a bit snappy once or twice in reviews.**

**So, I've decided to put my money where my mouth is:**

**I'm going to write a Wings of Fire\Legend of Spyro crossover.**

**I can't promise it'll update regularly (hopefully I'll have a uni course to get cracking on soon,) but I do promise quality. Both technical and content wise.**

**Now that I've gone and had that rant, let's step to:**

* * *

It wasn't often Webs found himself in a situation that really threw him.

Guardians and Dragonets of Destiny at claw tips with each other? Webs would (attempt) to play mediator.

Kestral or Dune gone a bit too hard on one of the Dragonets? Webs would intervene. He was the good guy. The closest thing the Dragonets had to someone who really cared.

He also had a tendency to run from confrontations and outright problems.

Which was why the bedraggled, half-dead looking SkyWing dragonet washed up on the bank of the stream near the entrance to the hidden cave had Webs stumped: On the one hand, the dragonet in question obviously needed help.

On the other hand, nothing mattered besides the safety of his charges.

Dune would've left him, if it had've been him.

Kestral probably would've broken the youngster's neck just in case.

The dragonet gave a feeble groan and tried to crawl further up the bank, shivering with cold, and meeting with limited success.

Webs however, put aside his net full of fish, picked the dragonet up by the scruff of the neck and positioned him across his shoulders, before reclaiming his net.

He grunted as the youngster settled. He wasn't malnourished or undergrown, that was for sure.

Besides, it'd do the Dragonets some good to meet someone from outside. Might even make them more pliant if this one turned out hostile.

* * *

'Webs.' Kestral's deceptively level and pleasant greeting didn't bode well. 'What's that you have there?'

It was probably a good thing that Dune was taking a lesson with the Dragonets at that moment.

'I found him washed up on the riverbank nearby.' Webs replied. 'Out cold like this. I thought we could use some fresh news. Or, maybe he'd serve as an example to the Dragonets why they're better off with us than outside. They've been getting restless lately.' He added by way of explanation.  
'Of all the idiotic-' Kestral hissed, then took a deep, rumbling breath. 'Our cave. Now.' Webs didn't argue.

Kestral in this sort of mood was worse than a broody female who couldn't find a mate and a lot harder to placate.

When they were in the relative privacy of the cave, Webs set his blood-red burden down gently as Kestral rounded on him.

'Have you lost your mind?!' She hissed angrily, not bothering to keep her voice down.  
'I couldn't just leave him.' Webs admitted sheepishly.  
'Oh, you soft headed-' Kestral spat a tongue of flame into the river. 'You put us all at risk because you couldn't walk away from a dragonet who is more than likely a soldier in that skink, Scarlet's army? Have you no sense at all?!'

Webs suddenly found the floor beneath him exceedingly interesting as he mumbled some response quietly.

He was spared having to answer further as the dragonet in question groaned again and shifted, shaking his head blearily.

* * *

He awoke in a cave to the sound of an argument.  
He had no idea how he'd got there, who he was or what he was supposed to do.  
He did know however, that everything hurt, which elicited a groan.

He shook his head to try and clear it as he blinked his eyes open and tried to focus them.

His attempt to stand was successful, but had him trembling with the effort.

'What are you talking about?' He asked, noting that he sounded as worn out as he felt.

'You.' The reply was from a sharp and angry voice with feminine tones to it. 'Who are you?'

He thought about that for a second.

Nothing.

'I don't know.' He answered at last.  
'What were you doing in the river?' This voice was masculine and sounded much less hostile than the first.

He couldn't remember. Try as he might, he had no memory of who he was, what he was or what his purpose was.

'I don't know.' He answered again, dread creeping into his voice. His vision was returning, presenting him with two large reptiles with massive wings, scales that shone like jewels and wickedly sharp-looking talons.

Dragons.

'Don't know? Or don't want to tell us?' Snarled the feminine voice, which came from the rust-red dragon.  
'I don't know!' He snapped back, taking a threatening stance and feeling his wings open as he did, his mouth opening in a snarl. 'I can't remember anything.' The enormity of that was just sinking in.

He could've been anyone. Anything. And just like that, all of who he was, was gone.

The realisation made his knees buckle and he fell.

'I can't remember anything.' He repeated in horror, more to himself than his interrogator. 'Not even my own name.'

* * *

Webs looked at Kestral as the dragonet fell to his belly at his realisation.

The stranger was either telling the truth or was an exceptional actor.

'Where did you come from?' Webs asked gently.  
A pause. 'I can't remember.' Came the quiet and scared answer. 'I don't know where I am, who you are, how I got here or what happened before I woke up here.' The dragonet's head drooped lower as he wrapped himself in his wings. 'I can't remember anything.' A shudder ran the length of him.

'Do you know of the Talons of Peace?' Kestral asked, warily.

The stranger's wings twitched oddly as though he were shaking his head. 'No.' Came the reply.

'What do you know of the war that is raging across Pyrrhia?' Webs asked.

The dragonet's wings unfolded as he looked to Webs with a still-scared but also confused expression.

'Pyrrhia?' He asked carefully.  
'The name of this land.' Kestral replied. 'Who do you serve?' She asked.

The dragonet shook his head.

'I can't remember if there's anyone who even cares about me.' He said. 'Let alone if I owe loyalty to anyone.'

Kestral and Webs shared another look. If the youngster merely had amnesia for whatever reason, it stood to reason he'd remember at least something.

Either this dragonet really knew absolutely nothing about his circumstances or he was a good actor who was playing the amnesia card for all it was worth.

Really there was only one thing to do in this situation.

'Alright.' Webs said. 'Why don't you rest up and we'll talk more later. Maybe some rest will help you remember something.' He added kindly.

The dragonet nodded once.

'Thank you.' He said gratefully, before retreating into the corner of the cave, curling in on himself and wrapping himself in his wings.

Within moments, the deep regular breaths of one fast asleep filled the cave.

Kestral motioned back out the way they'd come.

'Not a soldier.' She said quietly, though the look she was giving Webs told him she was still angry with him. 'He fell asleep too quickly in our presence and besides shouting back at me, he wasn't nearly wary enough.' She added low. 'Scarlet trains her soldiers better. And not a spy either, a spy wouldn't have gotten caught.'

Webs nodded. 'So he is an amnesiac then.' He said. 'Which begs the question what we're going to do with him.'

Kestral snorted. 'We can't let him go and we can't kee-' She paused, cocked her head, then nodded. 'Actually, we're keeping him.' She said, her tone brightening.

'What?' Webs asked.  
'We need a SkyWing, not that lazy RainWing you brought us to replace the egg Burn broke when she killed Hvitur.' Kestral replied. 'He's about the right age and unless he remembers something about the circumstances of his birth that says otherwise, so far as he knows he fits the prophecy.' She added, sounding happier than Webs had ever heard her. 'It also means we can get rid of the RainWing.' She added.  
'Let's not get too far ahead of ourselves.' Webs advised. 'The others already know and like Glory. She's their friend. And they aren't likely to take kindly to him,'-Webs jerked his head towards the Guardian's cave,-'if they think we'll replace her.' He added.

Kestral sighed irritably, but nodded, conceding the point.

'At least maybe now, there'll be a dragonet in here who isn't insufferable or spineless.' Kestral said. 'He might even be _tolerable_.'

* * *

When Dune emerged from the study cave later on to let Kestral start on the day's combat training and Webs took the maimed SandWing to see the sleeping dragonet in the Guardian's cave, Webs was almost afraid Dune was going to skewer him on his sting-tipped tail.

'Have you lost your mind?!' He rumbled savagely.

Which forced Webs to hastily recount what had happened, and Kestral's epiphany.

'Look at it this way:' Webs said. 'If the Talons do show up and question why we have a RainWing and a SkyWing, we can just tell them what happened to Hvitur and add that Kestral went and stole his egg from some family further out and that we stole Glory's egg to cover that possible interpretation of the prophecy. Rain comes from the sky as well, after all.' He explained. 'But on the bright side, we have our SkyWing now.' He added.

Dune hummed to himself, the sound a deep rumble that escaped the barrel of his chest.

'Guess we'll have to keep the RainWing around to keep the brats quiet.' He said eventually. 'As to him, we'll see.' He added. 'Can't say I'm thrilled with the idea of having another dragonet to babysit.'

* * *

The dragonet didn't awake again until the next morning, shortly after the Guardians themselves did.

After the dragon had stared his fill at Dune, he turned his attention to Webs' question.

'Sorry?' He asked apologetically.  
'Are you feeling any better?' Webs asked kindly.  
'I'm not as sore.' The dragonet replied. 'But I still don't remember anything.' He replied, sounding dejected.

'What happened before you woke up in here?' Dune asked.

The dragonet paused, his brow furrowing as he thought.

'I…' He paused, the furrows growing deeper. 'I remember pain.' He said at last. 'And light and parched rock. I was afraid and something purple.' He shook his head. 'That's it. I'm sorry I don't remember more.'

The three Guardians traded looks, the same thought on all their minds.

Whatever suspicions they had about this dragonet, he was telling the truth as far as he knew.

Which, considering his completely outlandish, fractured recollection of what happened before Webs found him, just made the situation all the more curious.

* * *

**And there's chapter one.**

**Please leave a review and I'll see you next time.**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter II

First Impressions

**Disclaimer: See Chapter One.**

He was really beginning to debate the wisdom of eating that cow.

Yes, being fed was good. It was the highlight of the past day.

However, coming right before he'd been told he was going to meet the other five occupants of this cave network,-who were apparently dragonets of around his own age,-what had been a very welcome meal wasn't sitting as it should.

He couldn't even remember his own name! How were you supposed to introduce yourself without a name?!

Some of his feelings must've shown on his face, because the red dragon, who'd introduced herself as Kestral, looked at him.

'What's wrong?' She asked. There was no kindness, sympathy or understanding in her voice. Just a stern question.  
'I don't know my own name.' He replied quietly. 'How do you introduce yourself when you have no name?'  
'You want a name?' Kestral asked, obviously slightly startled at the answer she received.  
'At this point, _a_ name is better than _no_ name, even if it isn't mine.' He replied.

Kestral gave an amused huff at this response.

'Very well then, _Inferno_,' she said, placing emphasis on the last word. 'Satisfied?'  
'Inferno…' He mused, half to himself. 'Yes, thank you.'  
'Good. Because it isn't up for debate.' Kestral said to this affirmative.

Her attitude puzzled Inferno, though he didn't have time to ponder it as the blue Guardian, Webs reappeared leading the other occupants of the cave network:

The first of the group to catch his attention was a brown dragonet that looked to be the largest of the group, though he still looked small next to Webs and in comparison to Kestral.  
Even though he hadn't had a moment to examine himself in what reflection the river provided yet, Inferno felt sure that he would at least be able to look him in the eyes without having to look up.

The second most noticeable was a dragonet who's scales kept shifting colours, though the primary ones shifted between red and grey-blue.

The third was akin to Webs in colouration and seemed roughly the same size as the first dragonet, though her gaze had zeroed in on him and her face had clouded with undisguised mistrust and dislike.

He almost missed the fourth, who's scales blended with the shadows and seemed content to remain innocuous.

The fifth was the smallest, but contrasted starkly with the cave. She shared things in common with the maimed Guardian from earlier, Dune,-who was currently enjoying further rest after he'd introduced himself and sternly warned Inferno not to cause trouble,-though she lacked the wicked tail-barb and of the five, she was the only one who didn't look as if she'd decided she already hated him.

'Alright, listen carefully:' Kestral began, addressing the five. 'This is Inferno.' She said, nodding to the dragonet in question.' He'll be staying with us for the foreseeable future. I want you to make him feel welcome and introduce yourselves. If I hear fighting, you'll regret it.' She finished, a stern threat of grievous injury for anyone who defied her evident in her voice. 'Webs.' She said afterward, nodding back towards the cave behind Inferno.

They exited the cave, leaving Inferno on alert as he noticed a suspicious look on the face of the brown dragonet and a hostile look on the chameleonic dragon's face.

'Hello.' He said with a nod to the group, though there was no hiding the tense edge in his voice.

'They found my replacement then.' The chameleonic dragon said bitterly, her scales sitting on bright, dappled red, fading to splotchy maroon in places.

Inferno cocked his head at the reply.

'Replacement?' He replied blankly. Why exactly would a dragon he'd never met take instant offence to him and assume he was replacing her? She'd been here first.  
'The Guardians never wanted me in the first place. I was a replacement for the SkyWing egg that was broken before we hatched. Now they have you…' sickly yellow edged her scales.  
'Um…what…?' Inferno asked. 'I think you might need to start at the beginning. I don't have any idea what is going on here.' He added, still trying to be diplomatic despite the unwaveringly militant looks he was receiving.

'You don't know what's going on?' The blue dragonet asked sceptically. 'You mean you _don't_ know about the war going on outside? The three rival SandWing queens? The prophecy that has us locked in here in the first place?' The questions were rhetorical, but Inferno shook his head at each one.  
'I can't even remember what my name actually is. 'Inferno' was just what the red one, Kestral, decided to call me when I said I needed a name.' He explained.

'You have amnesia?' This question came from the dragonet that had been staying behind the others until this point.  
'I can't remember anything before I woke up in this cave yesterday.' Inferno replied evenly. 'So yes, I suppose I do have amnesia.'

'Okay, let's go and get comfortable. This is going to take a while.' The black dragonet said.

Inferno lay himself down and gave the five a pointed look.

'After this reception, I think I'll stay where I have some room to manoeuvre.' He replied. 'I don't want a fight, but that's not the impression I'm getting from you.' He added.  
'That doesn't change the fact you're my replacement.' The chameleonic dragonet said sharply.  
'I'm not replacing anyone!' Inferno snapped. 'I'm just staying here until…I don't know, I remember something or I know what's going on and I can handle myself.' He replied.

The five traded looks then gave Inferno a pitying,-and somewhat patronising,-look, before the black dragonet cleared his throat and began explaining things for Inferno:

He told him about the seven dragon tribes of Pyrrhia, how each tribe was ruled over by a queen and how succession was by trial by combat between the current queen and a daughter or sister.

How the last SandWing queen, Oasis, had been killed by a two-legged creature the dragonet called a 'Scavenger' that had robbed the SandWing treasury.

How Oasis' three daughters had descended to fighting each other for the throne as none of them had killed their mother and had forged alliances with the other tribes, dragging the whole land into their war of secession.

He told Inferno about the prophecy proclaiming the coming of five dragonets destined to end the war and how the prophecy had been thwarted when the most combative of the SandWing's would-be queens, Burn had killed one of the Guardians and smashed the egg he'd stolen.

At that point, Inferno was giving the dragonet a look of confused astonishment.

'You're serious? All this subterfuge and bloodshed because these three candidates couldn't work out who should be queen? Even though there were pretty clear guidelines on who held right to rule?' He asked incredulously.  
'Yeah, Blister was the first one to go to another tribe for help because she knew she couldn't beat Burn in a one on one fight and then Blaze did the same and Burn followed suit.' The black dragonet replied.  
'Alright, that explains why you're all here in the first place, but why exactly do you,-' he nodded to the chameleonic dragonet,-'think I'm your replacement?' He asked.

'Because I'm a RainWing. You're a SkyWing. And as everybody knows, 'RainWings are useless.'' There was a lot of venom and hate in the words. 'And, the prophecy doesn't mention any 'Wings of Rain,' so that's it. You're my replacement. And the Guardians probably aren't going to let me go back to the rainforest and live happily. They'll kill me just to keep this place a secret.' The chameleonic dragon said, her scales deepening in colour from scarlet to a deep blood red so dark it was almost black.

'Ah…' Inferno said. That was a rather justifiable reason to not like him then. 'I guess there's nothing I can say that'll convince anyone that I'm not bad then?' He asked tentatively.  
'Not really.' The blue dragonet confirmed with a shake of her head.

The introductions didn't get any easier.

They were stiff, awkward and Inferno kept expecting the dragonets to try and kill him in order to deny their Guardians an excuse to kill their friend.  
Things only got more tense when Kestral entered the cave again.

At her reappearance, Inferno subtly repositioned himself so he could watch her and the dragonets at the same time. Whatever gratitude he felt for her and the Guardians was overshadowed by the information they were kidnappers and more jailors rather than anything else.

He'd also be damned if anyone died on his account.

'I take it they told you we stole their eggs from their families and forced a destiny they didn't want on them?' Kestral asked an edge of indifference and mocking in her voice as she addressed Inferno.  
'Among other things…' Inferno replied tensely. 'Like that you'll likely kill one of them out of spite and that I am her replacement.' He added, his tone accusatory. 'If that's who's offered me shelter, then I think I'll take my chances outside with the war.'

Kestral snorted contemptuously.

'You don't even remember your own name. How do you expect to last five minutes outside?' She asked rhetorically.  
'At least I wouldn't have to worry about someone ripping my throat out while I'm asleep.' Inferno replied tersely.

Kestral huffed, in amusement.

'Look at you, so noble and getting yourself worked up over a useless RainWing and dragonets who hated you the moment they saw you.' She said mockingly.  
'That's your fault, not mine.' Inferno shot back.

Kestral lunged at him, her jaws snapping shut right in front of Inferno's face as he launched himself backwards, a growl of warning rumbling from his chest as he mantled his wings.

'You're insolent for someone who owes us your life.' Kestral observed, then drew back, giving an overly dramatic sigh. 'But you're correct. Webs is adamant that replacing the RainWing with you is simply going to be more trouble than it's worth. So, she's staying; So are you. Satisfied?'  
'Apparently what freedom of choice I have counts for nothing here. You tell me.' Inferno replied, his distaste evident.

Kestral moved so fast, Inferno barely managed to get away from the full force of her backhand strike.

As it was, it clipped his flank as he tried to roll under it and fetched him up on his stomach, limbs askew by the near wall.

'That's enough out of you.' Kestral snarled. 'Any more smart comments and I'll kill you myself.' She added, her own rumble of warning filling the cave. 'Pick yourself up. It's battle training shortly.' So saying, she swept out of the cave by an opening opposite the one she'd come from.

Inferno staggered up, shaking himself.

He could only assume 'battle training' was the same as 'combat practice,' only more likely to end in pain rather than some sense of satisfaction, given the instructor.

'What's that on your wings?'

Inferno glanced at the other dragonets, who were all relaxing from tensed stances.

'What?' He asked of the one who'd spoken, the small SandWing, Sunny.  
'Your wings, what are those markings on them?'

Inferno twisted his right wing down and forward, then spread it as far as he could.  
There were indeed markings on them, though he couldn't tell the full extent, just that they weren't natural.

'I think it's a tattoo.' He said at last, after examining his left wing and finding similar markings. 'Though of what, I have no idea.' He added, bemused.  
'Let me see.' Said the black dragonet, Starflight, stepping forward to get a better view.

Inferno obliged, putting his back to the dragonets and spreading his wings wide, but keeping his head tilted so he could watch them from the corner of his eye. They _had_ been willing to gut him not five minutes previously after all.

'It looks like some sort of bird.' Starflight said at last. 'Although I don't know the significance behind it.' He admitted.

Inferno closed his wings then turned back.

'I don't remember, so don't ask me.' He said, then looked to the cave Kestral had went to. 'It's probably not wise to keep her waiting, I take it?' He asked tentatively.  
'No, it really isn't.' Said the brown dragonet, Clay.  
Inferno stood and made his way to follow Kestral.  
'Then best not to keep her waiting then.' He said, not even sparing the dragonets a backward glance.

**And there's chapter two.**

**Please leave a review letting me know what you thought,-especially if you have any constructive criticism to give,- and I'll see you all next time.**

'**til then.**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter III

Settling In

**Disclaimer: See Chapter One**

Kestral regarded Inferno as he entered the cave.  
She may have snapped at him and thrown him against the wall, but that was just normal SkyWing discipline. Her own parents had employed much the same methods with her when she'd been a dragonet.  
She had to say, he didn't look cowed. Not in the least. She almost thought she saw an unspoken challenge in his eyes as he looked at her reclining by the river. If he'd been a couple of years older, she might have respected confidence like that, but in a dragonet it was irritating in the extreme.

'So when do we begin?' Inferno asked curiously.

Oh, he was confident all right. More confident than he had any right to be. Maybe fighting would help him remember who he was, or out him as an intruder.

'When the others get here. I want to see if you know how to fight already. Even if you can't consciously remember being taught, you'll know what to do if you have had training.' Kestral replied evenly.  
'Why wait?' Inferno questioned, crossing to the centre of the room. 'I wouldn't be fighting other dragonets outside.' He pointed out and Kestral had to admit he had a point. The same rationale she used with trying to get Clay to bring out the violent little monster that had tried to kill the other dragonets at hatching, or when she sparred with the other dragonets to teach them to fight. Still, it wouldn't do to injure him and have to nurse him back to health for the next week because she over-estimated him.  
'That might be true, but I'm the one teaching here.' Kestral replied, a stern edge creeping into her voice. 'You will do as I say. Without question.' The last part was outright growled.  
Inferno dipped his head in acquiescence, before taking a wide stance, his wings mantled high and head lowered to protect the hollow of his throat, obviously willing to wait in his ready stance for however long was necessary.

He held his stance for a the full ten minutes it took for the dragonets to filter in, turning his head slightly to watch them enter while watching Kestral at the same time.

'So glad you decided to join us.' Kestral said evenly to the dragonets. 'Starflight.' She added, her gaze fixing on the black dragonet. 'You will be fighting Inferno. Try not to damage him.'

Starflight nodded jerkily as the other dragonets set themselves opposite Kestral, though they didn't sprawl casually like Kestral did, instead sitting back as though they expected to have to spring to the side at a moment's notice.

Starflight took a position opposite Inferno, before assuming a lower stance than the one Inferno held.  
Inferno shifted his weight slightly but otherwise remained where he was, waiting for Starflight to start.

However, as the seconds ticked by, Inferno saw that the black dragonet had no intention of doing so. He was going to have to make the opening ploy.

This in mind, he lunged forward from his stance before feinting left, then slamming shoulder-first into Starflight, who staggered back under the blow before rolling to the left and attempting to hit Inferno from the side, a manoeuvre Inferno blocked before batting Starflight in the head hard enough to send him sprawling in a daze.

'Enough.' Kestral barked as Inferno tried to close in.

Inferno backed off as Starflight tried to regain his senses.

'Crude, but effective.' Kestral said. 'Glory.'

The chameleonic dragonet stepped forward without comment, her eyes hard as she looked at Inferno.

Without warning, she lunged straight at his throat, a move which sent Inferno winging backwards, his forearms raised defensively, leaving his sides open, which Glory was quick to exploit, hitting him in the side with her claws.  
Inferno however, rolled with the blow and used it to spring around, before charging at a dead run.  
Glory in turn side stepped his headlong charge and struck him in the left side.

Inferno lashed his tail, hitting Glory across the right arm. She tried to strike again, but Inferno checked her with his wing before batting her across the face with it, then following that up with a claw-strike to the left shoulder. Glory retaliated by getting her shoulder under his guard and flipping Inferno onto his back, before Inferno kicked her off him and rolled to the side before darting in and shoulder checking her.

Glory retaliated by slamming her forehead into Inferno's face, which made him recoil stunned. She struck again, a blow which Inferno turned aside, before striking again, then again, the first of which Inferno ducked and the second of which hit him in the side of the neck.

Inferno hissed in frustration before he launched himself at Glory and trapped her arms by her side in a bear hug before launching himself into the air.  
Glory tried to bite his neck while he did this, but Inferno checked her with his muzzle, then again as Glory tried a second time.

He was struggling to remain aloft during this, so before Glory got another chance to try and bite him, he threw her back down, before diving at her, claws extended.

His aim was good, but Glory managed to twist mostly out from under him as he landed, but not before Inferno darted back in and pinned her to the ground by placing one paw just behind her head and pressing down.

He maintained the pressure as Glory struggled, waiting for Kestral to call the fight over. He chanced a look at the older dragon, but she didn't look inclined to say anything.

'You're beaten. Stop struggling.' Inferno hissed quietly.

His statement got the opposite reaction:

Glory fought harder, somehow twisting out from under Inferno's paw,-and garnering herself four shallow scratches on the back of her neck where his claws had caught under her scales, before she reared back and punched him in the throat, before pitching him onto his back again and closing her jaws around the hollow of his throat.

'You're tougher than you look.' She murmured quietly a note that might've been respect in her voice, before she released him.

Inferno stood again, regarding Glory as she sauntered back to the other dragonets.

She was useless _how_ exactly?

* * *

Battle training proceeded in that fashion, Inferno squaring off against the dragonets once each, being beaten only once more by the blue dragonet, Tsunami, who left him swearing in pain after she somehow landed a kick to his groin, effectively ending the bout as Inferno had been about to exploit managing to put her on her back and end the match in the same manner as Glory had.

Inferno stepped back and allowed the brown dragonet, Clay to regain his feet.

The dragonet in question retreated back to his compatriots without a word.

'Whoever taught you how to fight, they certainly weren't focused on finesse.' Kestral said, standing and circling Inferno, looking at him appraisingly. 'You just attack and hit hard. It's effective, but I must ask, why didn't you use your fire?' The question was deceptively pleasant.  
'Fire?' Inferno asked, blankly.

In response, Kestral spat a roiling jet of flame in front of Inferno, making him rear back with a startled hiss.

'Yes, your fire. A SkyWing's most prominent natural weapon.' Kestral snapped. 'Why didn't you use it in those fights?' She questioned again, less patiently.  
'I didn't know I could do that. Breathe fire, I mean.' Inferno replied, looking at the scorched patch of stone Kestral's demonstration had left.  
'Did no one teach you anything?' Kestral asked, fixing Inferno with a glare.  
'How should I know?' Inferno shot back rhetorically.

The next thing he knew he was flailing in the river with a hard ache across his chest.

Spluttering, gasping and swearing a vile array of curses, he hauled himself out of the river, then found himself pinned none-too-gently against the ground by Kestral's paw on the back of his neck.

'Don't back answer me, you little salamander.' Kestral hissed. She turned to the other dragonets. 'Be off with you. Webs is waiting to run through history with you.' She barked. 'You and I are going to stay here and you are going to breath fire.'

* * *

'Useless. We'll continue tomorrow.' Kestral huffed, leaving the practice cave as Inferno watched her leave. She'd kept at him all day, trying various techniques to try and coax him into breathing fire: sparring, breathing techniques, nothing worked.

Kestral took it out on him, Inferno had by that stage simply given up back answering and just quietly seethed under her blows.

'Hope rocks fall on you while you sleep.' Inferno muttered as he flexed his wings and talons restlessly.

Without further direction he followed Kestral out after he'd more or less reigned in his temper.

'Hey.' Inferno turned with a guarded look at the short greeting to find the chameleonic dragonet, Glory looking at him shyly.  
'Yes?' He asked carefully.  
'The others and I, we wanted to apologise. For this morning.' She said, sounding stilted.  
'If I were in your place, I don't think I'd have acted any differently.' Inferno replied neutrally.

Glory just gave him a sad look.

'What I wanted to say, was that we want to start over.' Glory said, still sounding unsure.  
'That sounds reasonable.' Inferno said, brightening slightly and looking around for the others.  
'Right. This way.' Glory said, nodding to a passage near the river.

Inferno followed hesitantly, passing two caves opposite each other before coming to a cave at the end of the passage with an opening to the sky above with a map on the opposite wall and a stack of scrolls off to one side.

Ranged around the light in the middle of the cave were the other dragonets.

'Found him.' Glory said without a backward glance as she went and settled opposite Tsunami.

The eyes of the other dragonets were drawn to him and he stopped cold in the entrance, suddenly unsure of himself.

The brown one, Clay, stood and approached with the same sort of hesitance Inferno felt.

'Sorry about earlier.' He said, sounding pensive.  
'It's understandable.' Inferno replied tightly, looking around for a place to sit.

It was the small one, Sunny,-if he remembered correctly,-who shifted and offered him a place to sit, which Inferno acquiesced to, though he couldn't stop himself from kneading the rocks before him pensively.

'Are you alright? It sounded like Kestral was trying to beat you to death in there.' Said the blue one, Tsunami, almost sounding concerned.  
'I'm pretty sure I've had worse…' Inferno replied absently, coiling in tighter on himself unconsciously.  
'You just can't remember it?' Tsunami asked rhetorically.  
'It would explain why I'm not scared of her threats.' Inferno mused. 'But there'll be time to talk about me later, what about you?' He asked, directing the question at the group in general.

* * *

Later, Inferno found himself back in the study cave, scratching at the wall he reasoned most likely to lead outside.

Unfortunately, instead of crumbly sandstone or limestone like he'd been hoping, the rock was granite and nowhere near as pliable.

The skyhole was likewise a dead end. It was deeper than he could reach and too narrow for him to get his head through, much less the rest of him.

'Wow, here barely two days and you're already looking for a way out.'

Inferno spun around, to find himself confronted by Glory.

'After today, I'd definitely rather take my chances outside.' He replied mordantly.  
'We've been here six years with the promise of another two.' Glory said.  
'Ouch.' Inferno said as he moved the rack of scrolls aside, then swore quietly. Quartz this time.  
'I'm sorry about earlier.' She said in a rush, the apology sounding hesitant and she sounded embarrassed.

Inferno looked to see Glory dappled with star-bursts of crimson and spots of green.

'Like I said, given the circumstances, there's no harm done. It's only a disgrace you should've had to worry about that in the first place.' He replied, then curled up near the torch opposite the scroll rack. 'Guess I'll go back to looking for a way out tomorrow.' He said quietly.

'You're going to sleep in here?' Glory asked, puzzled. 'Why not with Starflight and Clay?'  
'Feel's like I'm intruding.' Inferno replied honestly. 'Maybe when we all know each other better.' He added. 'Goodnight.'

Glory nodded at this. 'Goodnight.' She replied.

**So, this took forever.**

**No surprises there, that's just how my writing goes sometimes.**

**So, thanks this time around:**

**To everyone who faved and subscribed, thanks for the show of interest.**

**And to the reviewers of the last chapter:**

**The Poarter and Frostwings.**

**Thanks you two.**

'**til next time!**


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter IV

Perchance to Dream

**Disclaimer: See Chapter One.**

'What do you think of him?' Tsunami asked quietly as the five dragonets sat in a tight ring within one of the sleeping caves.

'He's not what I expected.' Glory said. 'He's a SkyWing like Kestral, so I thought he'd be perpetually angry. He's not really.' She said.

'He seems nice enough, but I think that might have something to do with the fact he doesn't remember anything.' Starflight opined. 'And not as reckless as his back-answering Kestral would suggest either, he waited for us to come to him when we were sparring; And he was standing there waiting for us when we went in. He's patient.'

'He doesn't hold back when he fights.' Clay noted.

'I think he's telling the truth when he says he doesn't remember anything.' Sunny said. 'He was really tense when he was talking with us and why would he ask the questions he did?' She added afterward.

'You have a point there, Sunny.' Tsunami conceded. 'But the question is, do we trust him?' She asked.

* * *

_Flashes of colour._

_Fragments of conversations._

_Feelings of terror, pain, anger, sorrow, frustration and fervour. Later, camaraderie, relief, happiness, blood-lust, agony, conviction, then gut-wrenching horror-_

Inferno lunged awake with a hiss, launching himself claws extended, only to land on the dusty floor of an arena.

_'What…?'_ He whispered, as he looked around, only to see ruined columns and tiered seats.

He looked to the sky, only to see the fathomless blackness of the starry void.

_Rest._

The word held the weariness and compassion of one who has seen eternity.

Without fully understanding why, Inferno coiled up and drifted off to sleep once more, certain he would not be troubled again that night.

He dreamed.

_In it, he saw a flame red dragon soaring below three moons through a mountain valley._

_It could have been hours or a moment. Time mattered little in a dream._

_Abruptly, his viewpoint came closer and he saw the dragon land at the entrance of a cave._

_The dragon looked back to the sky before entering, then the dream began to fade._

* * *

Inferno blinked awake.

Silver moonlight filtered down through the hole in the roof still.

He stood, his tail twitching restlessly. He knew he should probably try and go back to sleep, but he had a feeling it would be long in coming.

With a mental shrug he stood and quietly made his way to the entrance cave.

As he entered, he was surprised to find himself face to face with Dune.

'What are you doing up? You should be asleep.' The maimed SandWing growled sternly.  
'I couldn't.' Inferno replied. 'Strange dreams.' He explained, noting that half the torches had burnt themselves out and the other half looked set to be lit.

Dune gave a snort.

'Well, while you're awake, you can help me with these torches, and we'll see if we can't stir up some memories regarding survival.' The scarred SandWing said, nodding to a pot of coal set in the middle of the room.

With a nod, Inferno took a claw full of the coal and reared up, using his wings to balance as he set about arranging the coal in the brazier.

'If you're travelling in unfamiliar territory, where should you rest?' Dune asked abruptly from the torch he was tending.  
'Somewhere you can keep watch of the surrounding area without being seen yourself, but with a clear line of retreat.' Inferno said after a moment's thought as he finished arranging the coal in the brazier.  
'When should you travel in the desert?'  
'You shouldn't, if you can avoid it, otherwise in the cool…hours…' Inferno stopped and blinked, cocking his head as he tried to remember.  
'What is it?' Dune asked, approaching Inferno having lit the brazier he was working on.

Inferno shook his head.

'Trying to remember how I know that.' He replied. 'All I remember is an impression of decisiveness.'  
'Can you hunt?' Dune quizzed.

Inferno shook his head.

'I don't think so.' He replied uncertainly.

Dune hmmed to himself, the sound a low rumble in his chest.

'We'll have to fix that tomorrow.' He said at last. 'Doesn't matter a damn if you can breath fire if you can't even feed yourself. Now, back to it, these torches aren't setting themselves.'

* * *

It turned out, Dune's method of teaching Inferno how to hunt involved turning loose a small group of chickens and instructing him to catch them.

Which was easier said than done.

The birds were nimble and could get into places Inferno wasn't able to access and his initial attempts at catching them ended in failure.

Eventually, Dune just called a stop and proceeded to catch the birds himself, snapping one up as it wandered by oblivious, pouncing on another two, driving a fourth out of the pile of rocks it had taken shelter in and stunning the last with his tail before swallowing it whole.

'Better luck tomorrow, whelp.' Dune said, limping towards the Guardians' cave.

* * *

That set the tone for the day:

Webs took him aside after that and interrogated him for knowledge on the seven tribes of dragons, the history of Pyrrhia and the politics involved in the war.

It was a long, boring and to Inferno's mind irrelevant exchange, with him giving up what little the other dragonets had told him or an 'I don't know,' and then having to listen to Webs give him another interminable lecture about whatever he hadn't known.

'It's a start at least,' Webs said when he eventually ran out of questions and lectures. 'Your amnesia seems to be worse than we assumed, that's all fairly basic knowledge we covered.' He added.  
'Thank you for enlightening me, at any rate.' Inferno said, not quite able to banish the irony from his voice.

Webs shook his head.

'I'd be a bit more careful if I were you, Inferno.' He said. 'Dune and Kestral aren't quite as forgiving as I am when it comes to being talked back to.' He warned.

Inferno nodded in reply before leaving the cave.

Now with a moment to think, his mind wandered back to his dream the previous night, or more specifically, the one about the dragon flying.  
_Was that me?_ He wondered.

Some instinct told him no, that wasn't him, but he couldn't shake the feeling he knew the dragon he'd seen.

Further thought was prevented as he re-entered the main cave to find Kestral waiting for him.

Off to one side were the other dragonets, currently spattered in the blood of a few unfortunate animals Inferno couldn't quite identify, given their was little but bones and offal remaining, although he did see the remains of a cow skull in Clay's paws.

'We're continuing where we left off yesterday.' Kestral said, pinning Inferno in place with a look. 'Come along, Dune's given specific instructions you're not being given any food unless you catch and kill it yourself.' She added, turning towards the training cave.  
'Yes ma'am.' Inferno said automatically with a deferential nod.

He blinked.

The address had been automatic and felt so natural it caught him off guard.

Kestral wheeled sharply, before sweeping Inferno off his feet and pinning him to the ground by the throat.

'So, a spy of Queen Scarlet's, are we?' She growled, glaring down at the smaller dragon with a look of vicious triumph and fury.  
'I…don't-' Inferno broke off as Kestral increased the pressure on his throat.  
'Spare me your lies you little skink.' She hissed. 'Now, who told you where to find us? Did you tell anyone what you were trying to do? Who told you how to find us? Tell me!'

Inferno thrashed wildly, trying to draw breath as his vision began to darken around the edges-

_No!_ The word rang through Inferno's mind like the roar of a gale and the next thing he new, he felt a rush of energy and Kestral was sent flying back as though electrocuted and hit the ground in a heap, before picking herself up and staring at him with unbridled anger and suspicion.

He gasped in a grateful breath and collapsed, quivering in shock and numb terror.

Dimly, he was aware of the other dragonets clustered on the other side of the cave, staring at him mutely, while Webs stood in the cave entrance he'd just come from himself and Dune had hobbled out from the Guardians' cave.

Shakily, he rolled to his feet, noting miniature arcs of lightning jumping between his talons.

'What-?' He gasped, rocking back on his back legs to stare down at the energy in amazement.  
'What are you?' Hissed Kestral.

Inferno shook his head as he folded his wings and came down on all-fours again.

'I don't know.' He said, voice breaking distraughtly on the last syllable, willing,-silently _pleading_,-that Kestral would accept that fact.

Without warning, Kestral lunged at him and Inferno recoiled in shock, slipping on the slimy rock by the river's edge and tumbling in, before being picked up by the current and carried along.

Inferno tumbled over and over thrashing, before he managed to right himself in time to become jammed into a gap in the rock.

He thrashed wildly, trying to get loose as his lungs began to burn as he did his best to hold his breath.

For whatever reason, the rock gave way and he was pushed through by the current.

He kicked and lashed his tail to try and gain some momentum, trying to angle up towards hopefully breathable air, but all he managed to do was drag his snout along the roof of the underwater passage.

Then, there was a patch of vibrant, glowing blue in the rock and when he touched it, he was seized by an intense feeling of vertigo-

_-Fallen into water- -known not to fly in a storm-_

_-Desperate-_

_-Vibrant energy rushing through him as he filtered the water and used his power to turn it to-_

The vision, the memory, whatever it had been disappeared as quickly as it had come, leaving a strange, jumbled set of recollections behind, but one of them stuck out.

Recalling the rush he'd felt before Kestral was thrown back, Inferno calmed enough that he could feel it.

He opened his mouth slightly and drew on the hum tingling through him and saw how suddenly his way was dimly lit by a ghostly light issuing through his teeth and his mouth suddenly seemed full of air.

He breathed in and it felt as if he were trying to breath in steam, but it was better than just plain water.

He continued on, until his head broke the surface and he found himself in a huge cavern.

The ceiling above was dotted with pale lights and Inferno couldn't help but wonder what they were:

Some cave dwelling creature, or something else.

In the dim light, he saw a small island jutting out of the water and he paddled towards it, before hauling himself shivering from the cold water.

Suddenly, he felt immeasurably tired and he collapsed, panting, his eyes heavy as lead as he fought to remain conscious.

Then blackness claimed him.

**I'm not going to lie, this chapter had me stumped for a long time, and then it just all happened:**

**I needed a break from my other projects, I replayed a bit of Dawn of the Dragon and decided to give this another go and then the second half of this chapter pretty much wrote itself.**

**So far as the plot is concerned though…**

**Well, much like Guardsman before this, I've decided to shake things up a bit.**

**The last time I did that, everything drowned in too many Original Characters, but this time, I'm older, wiser and know not to go down that path again.**

**Don't hold your breath on Chapter Five, all I can say is that it's a possibility.**

**Also, please don't say anything about Moon Rising, I don't have it yet, because I got distracted by Discworld before it came out and I completely forgot about it until recently.**

**A big thank you to everyone who has Favourited and Followed, either this story specifically or just me as an Author and for Reviewing, I'd like to thank:**

**theuone, zero, Chewashley, BrandonBGamer, SuperactivatedRobotboy and two Unnamed Guest Reviewers.**

**Thank you all.**

**'Til Next Time.**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter V

The Fury of the Storm

**Disclaimer: See Chapter One.**

Inferno awoke to the same dusty arena he'd seen the previous night in his dreams.

_I can't stay here, I need to get out of the water, get out of that cave._ He thought.

He didn't know if any of the Guardians would or could follow him, but given Kestral's major overreaction to his term of deference, he didn't want to stick around and find out.

'_It seems you remember who you were. To some extent.'_ The old, weary voice said, echoing through the arena, seeming to come from thin air.

'_Who are you?' _Inferno called, looking around as he rose to his feet.

'_You may call me the Cronicler, Inferno.' _The voice replied. _'Normally, I would not intervene in a dragon's life unless absolutely necessary.' _It added. _'Alas, yours is one such case. I cannot reveal your past. That is something you must remember and come to terms with by yourself. However, if you are to survive long enough to do so, you shall require assistance. A Teacher, for one. And a Guide, also. For now, I will be the former.'_

'_After how that worked out last time, how can I be sure you won't turn on me as well?' _Inferno challenged.

The voice chuckled.

'_Having seen you history, I'd be most alarmed if you weren't suspicious.' _The Chronicler replied. _'To show my good faith…'_

The ground rumbled in front of Inferno and an electric blue cluster of crystals rose out of the sand.

A jealous, possessive feeling rose in Inferno as well as an even stronger urge to break the crystals.  
He resisted a moment, transfixed by the ice blue spires, before he rose on his hind legs and brought his claws arcing down into the cluster and shattering the crystals like glass.  
Vertigo gripped him as the crystals dissolved in a flash of light and suddenly, Inferno _knew:_

…_Electrical exhalation and manipulation based around amplifying and harnessing naturally occurring bio-electrical impulses…_

…_Properly focused, can be harnessed in lateral shockwaves to stun nearby foes indiscriminately…_

…_Attacks capable of accruing 'charge,' by holding them, though doing so requires focus and causes prolonged discomfort in form of recurring static shock…_

Images, concepts, voices, texts in languages he didn't know but somehow understood anyway rushed through his mind as the light faded and he suddenly felt alive as lightning arced between his talons and his spread wings.

He rose into the air, roaring with the sheer thrill of being _alive_, and a shockwave of arcing electricity exploded from him, to dissipate against the ancient stone walls.

'_Very good.' _The Chronicler said. _'I cannot promise your powers shall return to what they once were. The nature of them is anathema to us, as we are it, but their echo resides within you. Control them, lest they do you. Nothing but sorrow could come of that.'_

'_That's all very well, but what the hell am I going to do about the predicament I was in before I fell asleep?' _Inferno asked.  
'_You have no choice. You must flee. Whatever shelter the Talons of Peace, their Guardians and their mountain hideaway could have offered you is gone; victim of a misconception and a memory surfacing at the wrong time.'_ The Chronicler replied. _'The road ahead of you is dangerous. Pyrrhia is torn by war and even where your appearance would allow you to pass without overt hostility, your ignorance would put you in danger. To the west lies the desert, to the east, north and south, mountains, though beyond them lie other domains and other dangers. Where you go is your choice, though I would advise against the north. While you might pass for a SkyWing in appearance, the court of Queen Scarlet is dangerous to even the most wary and knowledgeable of its snares.'_

'_No advice on how to get out of this cave?' _Inferno tried resignedly.  
'_Follow the river.' _The Chronicler replied. _'I can't give you a straight answer straight away, I'm afraid. There are Rules. And some of us abide by them.'_ It almost seemed as if the remark were directed at someone besides Inferno.

He went to enquire further, but the vision faded, and he returned to his own body, freezing cold, stiff and bruised.

* * *

With an effort of will, he hauled himself out of the water onto the little island.

He shook his head, but the details of the dream were burned into his mind, along with the vertigo-inducing mess breaking the crystal had given him.

Experimentally, he focused inward to feel the rhythm of his own heartbeat and the gentle sway of his balance.  
Without consciously acknowledging it, he opened his maw and exhaled, then leapt back in shock as a tongue of corposant left it to earth itself into another island some distance away, hissing and crackling loudly.

_Okay, not a dream then. _Inferno thought and hesitated a moment before stepping back in the water, until it rose over his back.

He stood still until he could make out the faint tug of the current, then began swimming towards it with powerful strokes.  
It took a while, but he eventually found himself at another opening in the rock, this time with a little bit of head room.  
He went through and allowed the current to carry him along.

After a while, he heard a dull roar and shortly afterward, the tunnel opened up greatly. Rocks appeared in the water and he could dimly see the water foaming as it fell over an edge in a waterfall.

Kicking forward, he caught hold of one of the rocks and pulled himself up, before hopping to another, close to the waterfall.  
He peered over the edge, to be met by his own distorting shadow on the water, as the drop wasn't great.  
He lowered himself into the pool, before setting off further along the river, noting how it had suddenly picked up more force as he did.

Soon he was leaping from rock to rock to avoid being swept off his feet.

Then, he rounded a corner and saw clear, bright blue framed by a cave mouth filled with the roar of an even bigger waterfall.

Inferno sighed as he continued his path towards the opening, but paused at a spur of rock that split the waterfall and projected out into space, fanning his wings and flexing them experimentally.

He flexed his talons against the rock as he prepared to spring-

* * *

-Only to be hit from behind and sent tumbling into open space by something vast, wet and scaly.

He caught a glimpse of dark blue scales as he tumbled.

Inferno tucked his wings in and turned the tumble into a dive, before flaring them and wheeling away from the cliff to stop and hover as he saw his attacker.

It was Webs.

'I don't know what you hoped to gain, handing us over to Queen Scarlet, or how you found us, but I won't let you put all our time and effort go to waste. Or let you hurt Tsunami and the others.' He said, flexing his claws as Inferno bobbed up and down as he continued to hover in place.  
'And I don't know what the hell you're on about.' Inferno shot back. 'You found me, I don't know who I am or who this Scarlet person is and right now, I think I can see how Tsunami and the others formed their opinion of you and your co-jailors.'

Instead of replying, Webs lunged at Inferno and caught him in a bear hug.

'For what it's worth, I believe you.' Webs said, almost inaudible over the rushing air, before he tried to bite Inferno's throat.

Inferno slammed his brow into Web's snout in response and struggled, trying to break the bigger dragon's iron grip.

'Then let me go! I swear to the Ancestors, I don't mean any of you harm!' He shouted.

With another wriggle, Inferno managed to partially spread his wings, and concentrated on the strange lightning.

Webs flinched at the unexpected shock, weak as it was and Inferno took the opportunity to break his grip and slip away, beating his wings frantically to try and gain some distance and find a place to hide, though by the look of the dense woods below, that wasn't going to be likely.

His wings were nearly torn from their sockets as Kestral dropped on him from above and Inferno just barely managed to avoid being grabbed a second time.

He backwinged frantically to try and keep both of the Guardians in sight.

He opened his mouth and spat a bolt of corposant at Kestral, the bigger SkyWing flinching and falling from the sky like a lead brick as the raw energy shocked her, but she recovered and rose once again, now wary of Inferno's new trick and even angrier than before, if that was possible.

_I'm going to die here. _Inferno realised, queerly calm.

At the thought, the giddy feeling from his vision returned and he paused in midair, before flying back at Kestral, roaring defiantly.

He could see Webs swooping in on his flank as well.

Spreading his wings wide and coming to a stop as they neared, he summoned the lightning forth into a shockwave that caught the two adults full in the face and flung them back and to the ground, stunned and quivering.

This feat done, a massive wave of fatigue washed over Inferno and he sagged in midair, before beginning to fly southward.

* * *

By nightfall, Inferno was fairly sure he'd lost the two Guardians, by way of having flown as far and low as he could until he'd seen the Guardians ascending into the air, at which point he'd landed and continued through the forest and rocks on foot, before striking out eastward, and hiding in the rocks for hours at a time when he found a good spot to further his odds of losing them.

Now, he was shaking with exhaustion, his stomach growled sullenly in hunger and his paws felt as bruised from the awkward lope he'd resorted to whenever the ground was relatively clear.

_They could catch me in less than an hour if they put their minds to it._ Inferno thought bitterly.

_I'll stop either when I collapse from exhaustion or the sun rises._ He decided.

Raising his head and picking his wings off the ground, he kept walking.

**And I think I'll leave this chapter here.**

**An update inside a month? From me?**

**It's a miracle, I know.**

**I'm fairly sure a little more internal monologue would do this story wonders, but at the same time, 'less is more' has been a rather liberating maxim to work by with this story.**

**Let me know what you think in a review, it'll save a lot of agonising on my part.**

**Speaking of reviews, thank you to the following people for reviewing since my last update:**

**SuperactivatedRobotboy, BrandonBGamer and theuone.**

**Also, thank you to everyone who has favourited and followed, either this story or me as an author.**

**It's a huge and rather gratifying ego-boost whenever I get those notifications.**

**Well, 'til next time.**


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter VI

Gull and Breeze

**Disclaimer: See Chapter One.**

"Hey Gull, I think he's waking up."

Inferno blinked his eyes groggily and shut them immediately afterward as he was momentarily blinded by the glow of a fire.

He sat up with a groan and tried opening his eyes again to find himself nose to nose with a SkyWing about his age looking down at him with a faintly amused expression and a careless swagger in how she carried herself.

"If he's one of Scarlet's soldiers, hit him with a rock and throw him in the river." Came a reply from a pool on the other side of the fire.  
"I don't know who that is." Inferno protested feebly.

_How did I get here?_ He wondered. _Who are these people?_

He remembered trudging through brush and rocks away from where he'd encountered Webs and Kestrel until well after sundown and moonrise, hiding occasionally and changing directions, but maintaining a more or less south-easterly heading. He'd kept going until he collapsed from exhaustion, then got right back up and trudged on.

"Who are you?" He asked, struggling to his feet and backing up until his tail bumped into a large rock.

The SkyWing cocked her head as she looked Inferno over critically.  
"Considering that this is our shelter you're in right now and you've been out cold from exhaustion for the past two days, I think we should be asking you that." She said.

"I'm Inferno." He replied. "I…That's actually all I know about who I am." He said reluctantly, looking at the ground between his claws.  
"Shame, I was going to ask where you got those tats." The SkyWing replied, motioning to Inferno's wings. "Pretty impressive work, those. Whoever did them either was really good, or had a trained Scavenger." She added. "Do you know why the Talons of Peace are after you then?" She asked.

"A misunderstanding. I said something out of what I assume was habit and they tried to kill me." Inferno replied. "But I don't know anyone called Scarlet, much less anyone with royal blood." He added with some frustration.  
"Hey, it's fine. You can relax, we're not going to give you to those smokebreathers." The SkyWing said, flipping her wings dismissively. "Asked an old friend of mine if he'd heard of anyone with ink like yours going missing or being reassigned and he didn't know anything. Seems you really are a mystery then."

She turned to the pool.

"You owe me a Sovereign." She said with a note so patronising Inferno almost felt like hitting her himself.  
"Fine. Still doesn't answer what we're going to do with him." The voice replied.  
"If what Webs said is anything to go by, he's just going to get himself killed on his own." The SkyWing said. "Let's just keep him with us for now. It'll mean an extra person to trade watches anyway."

"Okay…" Inferno said. "Who are you two?" He asked again.  
"Name's Breeze. The SeaWing over there is Gull. We're professional Treasure Hunters." The SkyWing replied. "Of course, that harridan Scarlet probably doesn't see it that way, but she can kiss my tail." She added.  
"So you stole something from her?" Inferno guessed, cocking his head.  
"Nah, I deserted. Never going back to the Sky Kingdom seemed a small price to pay for not getting frozen solid by an IceWing." She replied with a shrug, before going to settle by the fire, proffering a spot to Inferno.

"And I…" Said Gull as he slid out of his little pool and joined them, revealing himself to be roughly Breeze's size, except blue, green and slightly bulkier. "Ran away to avoid…unpleasantness at home." He said. "I encountered Breeze making her own exit after reappropriating something one of the other SandWing Queens had put a bounty on." He explained.  
"Pleased to meet you both." Inferno said, suddenly feeling faint with hunger as what Breeze had said about being asleep for two days sank in.

"Here, you must be hungry." Breeze said, taking a spit fashioned from a sapling from over the fire and slipping a roasted sheep carcass off it.  
"Thanks." Inferno replied as his mouth watered and his stomach growled at the mere smell.

With that one word, he fell to devouring the sheep,-bones and all,-with single minded ferocity.

"So, any idea on your story?" Breeze asked when he paused to swallow.  
"Nope." Inferno replied. "No idea whatsoever." He added, deciding not to mention his weird dreams and perversely, not sell out the Guardians and their charges.

"You want to come with us?" Gull asked, then lifted a wing in a shrug. "You might find out who you are along the way and considering how crazy things are right now, it's safer to travel in small groups if you're not in one Queen or another's army." He explained.  
"Depends on where you're headed." Inferno replied.

"Either Jade Mountain or the Scorpion's Den. Depends on the traffic around the Mountain. We'd head north into the Tundra, but it's _exceedingly_ cold there and Queen Glacier's soldiers would probably kill us on sight, even though we've done some odd jobs for her in the past." Breeze replied.  
"And from there see if there's anyone who's offering work." Gull added.

"What sort of work do you do?" Inferno asked curiously as Breeze offered him a second sheep.  
"This and that. Smuggle between the tribes. They're officially at war, but there're things each tribe has that they trade and demand is a two way street. You can't exactly stop it because there's a war." Gull explained. "So, we act as go-betweens with cargo for the different Queens. Been burned a few times when exchanges went sour, but that just keeps things fresh." He added with a shrug.

"We also go looking for lost artifacts, though depending on the artifact, we might not return it if it turns out to be too dangerous." Breeze said. "Happened once, though it turned out to be in the middle of a heavily defended Scavenger den. We only found out after we stole a couple of them to see if they knew anything. It's amazing how adept they are at drawing pictures in the dirt." She added.

"What _are_ Scavengers, exactly?" Inferno asked curiously.

"If we see any on the flight to Jade Mountain, we'll point them out." Gull assured, looking up from his sheep. "But they're these little hairless things with fur patches on their heads. They used to rule the world up until five thousand years ago when the Scorching happened and they were basically destroyed." He explained. "They're mostly regarded as a nuisance, stealing treasure from us dragons. What most people don't know is they're actually pretty damn smart. You wouldn't credit it if you hadn't seen one of their dens though."  
"They're built. With an astounding amount of precision. You'd swear it was done by Animus magic if it weren't well known they don't have magic of their own." Breeze clarified. "And like I said, they can communicate after a fashion." She added. "It was one of them that killed Queen Oasis and started this war nearly twenty years back."

"Some tiny little thing killed a dragon?" Inferno asked skeptically. "Are they poisonous or something?"

As he said it a vision of a tan, red and blue-grey creature standing atop a dark tower and hefting a large rectangular piece of metal as it faced away from him to a huge black dragon with maroon wings flitted through his mind.

He shivered as he felt a phantom chill creep over him.

_What was that?_ Inferno wondered. _Was that a scavenger?_

"No, just unpredictable to the point of near insanity." Breeze replied. "Some dragons keep them as pets. I know one dragon out near the swamps that's trained one to do tattoo work. He gives it bits and pieces of treasure and it inks whoever is paying. They do pretty good work as well." She added. "I was thinking of getting something done, but the prices are way beyond what we can afford."

Inferno nodded.

"You mentioned the Talons of Peace and Webs. What's your relationship with them?" He asked.  
"Self-righteous hypocrites, the lot of them. They say they want peace, but they don't do anything towards it except sit on their hindquarters and wait for the NightWing Prophecy, rather than do something proactive like, you know, offing Blister or finding a better candidate." Gull replied scornfully.

"We bring them odds and ends to set drop offs, they give us treasure." Breeze clarified. "Webs is our usual contact. He only mentioned you as a security risk, but he wouldn't give us details. He never does."  
"Kestrel tried to kill me when I said something." Inferno clarified. "I didn't really have much option but to run." He added.

"Figures. They're all welcoming until you've got an opinion." Gull said bitterly, throwing the spit he'd been eating a sheep off onto the fire.

"Gull tried joining them under the impression they were doing something a bit more constructive than waiting on the NightWing Prophecy to happen and left after a rather heated argument and ran into me shortly afterward." Breeze explained. "He's had a very low opinion of them since then." She added, flicking the SeaWing playfully with her tail, before suppressing a belch and then sidling closer to Inferno, settling herself next to him.

"Comfortable?" Inferno asked, setting his own spit down by the fire.  
"Yeah. You're a lot warmer to sleep next to than Gull." Breeze replied, looking up at inferno impishly.

"Don't be surprised if she's draped over you when you wake up." Gull said as he curled up in the little pool he'd evidently made for himself. "And I'm just going to say it now: Better you than me." He added as he made himself comfortable.

"So, you're perfectly comfortable falling asleep next to a dragon you just met?" Inferno asked, unsure.

Breeze shrugged.

"I'm a light sleeper and I can guarantee, a more experienced fighter." She replied. "But yeah, I do move around a bit." She confessed, then set her head on Inferno's back. "Webs said you didn't know how to hunt." She said.  
"Yeah. Weird, huh?" Inferno said.  
"You've clearly never met a RainWing then." Breeze said, before tucking her snout into the space between Inferno's front paws as she tried to get comfortable. "They forage for fruit." She clarified. "We can talk tomorrow morning, right now, sleep. You'd need to know exactly where we are to find us right now." She added.

Inferno nodded, before he lay his head down next to Breeze and waited for sleep himself.

* * *

_The red dragon soared under the light of the three moons and above the still land below._

_She flew alone, using the clouds and the land itself to hide her presence and as she came out into a bright spot, Inferno could see she'd been fighting by the half-healed claw marks that marred her arms, though there was no sign she was pursued._

_Though she did not deviate in her path as she flew, Inferno couldn't help but feel she was searching for something._

* * *

Inferno awoke as Breeze uncoiled herself and stretched languidly.

The morning sun made her scales glitter like rubies.

The fire had burnt itself out and Gull was busy scattering the coals and ashes, dumping water on them to help cool them off

A large tarp and collection of rope and poles lay neatly off to one side of the cluster of rocks that Breeze and Gull had made their camp in.

"Sleep well?" Breeze asked.  
"I did." Inferno said with a shrug as he stood. "How far to this Jade Mountain?" He asked.

"Two or three days if we're lucky. Could be a week if we're not and there're patrols in our way." Gull said as he dropped a pair of fish at Inferno's feet. "Eat. Breeze can give you pointers on how to hunt later. We've stayed here long enough." He added, eyeing the sky like he expected an attack to appear out of nowhere. The assemblage that had made up the shelter was already slung on his back and he was flexing his wings anxiously.

The SeaWing didn't seem to be in much of a mood to answer questions, so Inferno snapped up the fish in one bite and swallowed them down, before ambling after Breeze to relieve himself.

That done he watched them carefully as they took off, before mimicking their motions and leaping into the air, spreading his wings skyward and pumping down hard to gain height to where Breeze and Gull waited hovering, privately triumphant that he hadn't botched the take off and made a fool of himself.

They flew in silence, Gull in the middle, Inferno diligently following him, gliding as much as possible to take advantage of Gull's wake and conserve his strength and Breeze flying lazily around the two of them, seemingly for the sheer joy of it.

"Where do you stay when you're not travelling?" Inferno asked above the wind of their passage, curiously.  
"Wherever we please." Breeze replied, matching his pace and flying so close their wingtips overlapped. "The rainforest is always good, but it gets boring after a while, hence the smuggling and treasure hunting and everything else." She explained. "What's your idea of a good time?" She asked.

Inferno made a helpless gesture with his talons.

"I don't know. I haven't had any since I woke up with no memories." He replied honestly.  
"Wow, that's a downer." Breeze replied. "You'll like hunting. That I can promise." She said. "Actually, how much have you flown?" She asked. "Your take off looked a little shaky." She added with some concern.  
"This will make my second flight that I can remember."  
"Talons and teeth." Breeze swore with horror. "Okay, if we get to Jade Mountain and there's nothing pressing to attend to, we're taking a few days to teach you the essentials. Next you're going to tell me you can't breathe fire." She said, shaking her head.  
"Er…" Inferno began, barely keeping from fidgeting midair as his balance wavered alarmingly.  
"Oh, Ancestors, you don't." Breeze said.

"Maybe not, but I _can_ do this:" Inferno replied defensively, then exhaled a crackling jet of electricity, which snapped and hissed as it flew through the air then exploded in a shower of sparks and a loud _Zap!_ as it hit the ground.

"What in the blazes-!?" Gull stopped short and wheeled around midair and looked between the pair of SkyWings. "What was that?" He asked.

"Inferno can spit lightning." Breeze explained, giving him an intense, almost manic look of excitement.

Gull nodded faintly.

"Please don't do that unless we run into trouble. You scared me half to death." He said faintly.

"I won't." Inferno promised as he bobbed up and down midair, trying to emulate Breeze's far steadier hover.

They continued onward, the landscape below seeming content to vary between rocky fields, woodland, grassy plains and scrub, broken up by the odd stream.

They saw other dragons on and off,-Sandwings and SkyWing patrols,-all aligned with Burn according to Breeze, though none troubled to bother the trio as they continued southward.

"At that distance, we just look like three dragons,-another patrol for all they know." Gull explained flipping his dark blue wings dismissively when they stopped by a stream for a break and a drink. "It's when they get close enough to make out that we're two SkyWings and a SeaWing travelling together there could be trouble." He added.

"Fortunately, patrols have been known to take bribes." Breeze said, patting a bag hanging from the harness Gull had attached the shelter to. "And the ones that don't…well, we've got our fair share of practice fighting and fleeing in the past." She said with an indifferent shrug.

"Is there any particular place at this Mountain we're going to?" Inferno asked.

The question had been nagging at him for a while.

"No place in particular. Legend says there's an ancient dragon half petrified somewhere inside the mountain, but that sounds like a load of manure to me." Breeze replied. "I'm actually hoping we'll have an excuse to head for the Scorpion Den. With the treasure we've made from our last couple of jobs, we should be able to afford some armour. Maybe not as good as what we were aiming for, considering there's three of us now, but we'll see."

Inferno nodded and took his turn at drinking at the river, before re-joining his companions to take to the wing again.

* * *

Inferno was beginning to enjoy flying.

They'd flown until shortly before sundown at which point they'd stopped.

Gull had shown Inferno how to put up the shelter he and Breeze had and Breeze had gone hunting.

This done, Inferno had collapsed from exhaustion, wings splayed while Gull settled himself down and started chatting with him.

Inferno mostly listened and asked the occasional question before settling down to eat when Breeze returned from hunting with a trio of deer, at which point they were too busy eating to continue talking.

Afterward, Breeze elected to take the first watch and left Gull and Inferno to settle down to sleep.

**Well.**

**I wasn't expecting this chapter to go as long as it did, but there you go.**

**I've got Breeze and Gull figured out, but if previous experience is any indicator, they're going to grow on their own.**

**I've finished **_**Moon Rising **_**now, so feel free to hit me with stuff relating to that if you've got ideas. I have an endgame in mind, it's just getting there that'll take doing.**

**Also, possibly ideas for a midgame would be helpful, because besides the Chronicler sleep-training Inferno occasionally. (No, he's not Spyro, so he's not going to be getting more than two powers. Possibly three, though I'm leaning towards not there.)**

**Thank you to neox, Hideout Writer and Guest for reviewing.**

**Same goes to everyone who favourited or followed, either the story or me in general.**

'**Til next time!**


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter VII

Gyrfalcon

**Disclaimer: See Chapter One.**

Midway through the second day, they ran into trouble.

"Don't look now, but we've got company." Gull called to Breeze and Inferno, nodding to a quintet of SkyWings headed their way.

"They've probably spotted us." Breeze called back, sounding exasperated. "Let's find some place to land. If they won't take a bribe, Inferno, shock one of them and maybe it'll convince the rest we're not worth the effort."

"And if they take the bribe and then attack us?" Inferno asked.  
"We kick their tails and take our treasure back." Breeze replied. "Just don't get captured. Dying in Queen Scarlet's arena is a horrible way to go."

They continued flying for a while, the SkyWings slowly closing the distance until Inferno pointed out a large hill, which they angled towards, spiralling in to land, before waiting for the SkyWing patrol to catch them up.

Two remained in the air circling, while the other three landed on the hill, two of them fanning out to flank the trio while the final one,-clearly the leader, given he was the only one wearing armour beyond a set of pauldrons,-approached them and judging by the look in his yellow eyes, Inferno was willing to bet they wouldn't simply be walking away with a greatly lightened purse.

His nostrils flared as his gaze settled on Breeze.

"_Breeze._" He rumbled, almost pleasantly but for the very clear note of menace in his voice. "How nice to see you again."

"Gyrfalcon…" Breeze chirped, all her previous confidence vanishing.

Gyrfalcon grinned, sunlight glinting off ivory white incisors.

"It's been years; and haven't they been kind to you?" He asked rhetorically, getting a rumbling chuckle from the other two SkyWings, neither of which seemed overly concerned by Gull or Inferno, who'd already plotted out his plan of attack as he watched the exchange and watched the pair still circling while trying to keep the others in sight.

"Your father's furious, you know," Gyrfalcon said conversationally, making as if to rub past Breeze.  
"The Ancestors can piss on his cairn." Breeze spat, snapping at the leading edge of his wing and hissing a warning, making Gyrfalcon recoil in surprise, though her response only elicited a sound Inferno could only call pleased, almost a purr.  
"My, you do have spirit." He said. "Your father doesn't give you enough credit." He added, before casting a dismissive look over Gull. "I can't say I agree with your taste in company though." He said with some disdain, making the SeaWing bristle, though he didn't say anything.

"And who's this?" He crooned, attempting to slide past Inferno in the same way he'd attempted with Breeze and received a swat across the jaw by a violently unfurled wing for his trouble.

Gyrfalcon's eye's narrowed and darkened as he stepped back and regarded Inferno, who readied himself for a fight.

The other two grounded SkyWings began to circle to flank the group.

"Breeze's impertinence I can excuse for a number of reasons, but who might you be to presume to strike your betters?" Gyrfalcon asked, drawing himself up to look down his snout at Inferno.

"A better question is are you being paid enough to be killed?" Inferno shot back. "Chances are I could only kill one of you." He said with deceptive cheer. "The question is, which one?"

Inferno backwinged away from Gyrfalcon's attempt to claw out his throat for the remark.

"He's called Typhus." Breeze said quickly. "He…doesn't really get on with people and I've seen him wipe out a patrol of IceWings single handed just last week." She added. "Gyr, for old time's sake, please, don't do this." She said, stepping between Inferno and the bigger SkyWing.  
"If that's the case, I'm sure he'll be a crowd favourite in the arena." He replied as his underlings began to close in.

"I have treasure." Breeze tried, a queerly pleading note in her voice.  
"So does Queen Scarlet. And she's offering more, not to mention your father." Gyrfalcon replied.

Inferno didn't give him a chance to continue, knowing that his next words would be an order.

Instead, he lunged at the SkyWing who'd been moving to flank him, coming in low and leaping up.

He attempted to block Inferno's attacking, but Inferno simply locked talons with him and sent a surge of lightning ripping through him, and took the opportunity to sink his teeth into the other SkyWing's throat. He shook his head viciously and felt flesh give and tear in a gout of hot, metallic blood and let the corpse slide to the ground, before wheeling about to face Gyrfalcon and his remaining bodyguard on the ground as Gull attempted to strike the SkyWing soldier with his tail.

Breeze was already fighting Gyrfalcon, using her smaller size and comparative agility to stay out of the way of the bigger SkyWing's strikes while she took any opening she could to strike him in return, although to Inferno's eye all it seemed to be doing was making him angry.

But there was nothing to be done at that moment, not with the pair who'd remained in the air swooping towards him and Gull.

Without a second thought he reared onto his back legs, opened his mouth wide and exhaled a crackling ball of lightning, which sailed up to meet the SkyWing diving at him. The dive became a deadfall and Inferno leapt into the air and caught the SkyWing, who was now convulsing spastically in a bear hug, before using the momentum to spin them around midair and smash the bigger SkyWing into the ground on her back, before landing and bringing his full weight down on her throat with a wet _crack_ as her neck broke.

Gyrfalcon roared in fury at seeing this and tiring of trying to subdue Breeze, checked her with a sweep of his wings, before hurling her into the scrub around the crest of the hill to struggle vainly, before charging at Inferno, his eyes glittering with rage.

Inferno leaped to the side instead of meeting the charge head on and just barely managed to block the backhand swing Gyrfalcon sent his way, the follow up roundhouse slash from his other paw breaking Inferno's guard and it was purely on reflex Inferno reached out as Gyrfalcon lunged forward to bite his throat and pushed his head to the side, paw on the bigger SkyWing's brow as he was shoved onto his back.

Inferno kicked him in the ribs and pushed, but he just didn't have the strength to counter Gyrfalcon's bulk.  
Grunting at the effort as he struggled to get out from under the other SkyWing, Inferno thrashed and continued to dodge Gyrfalcon's efforts to pin him completely.

_Dammit! I can't keep this up!_ He thought desperately, then with a bellow hooked his claws into Gyrfalcon's brow and ripped his claws down as he pushed his head away, sending an electric charge through his claws and winding up flailing in the brush himself as Gyrfalcon smashed him aside with bruising force as he clutched at the bloody claw marks Inferno had left over his right eye.

Half blinded by the blood streaming from the injury, he turned as a sickening crack heralded the death of another of his soldiers.

Gull had landed a solid blow to the unfortunate soldier's head with his tail and his victim lay sprawled with his head bent at an unnatural angle as he rounded on the last of Gyrfalcon's guards as Breeze freed herself from the brush and leapt onto Gyrfalcon's back.

Inferno didn't try and thrash about, realising he'd only tangle himself further, opting instead to roll out of the undergrowth onto his feet and leaped at Gyrfalcon's wing to help Breeze.

He was too late however, as the last SkyWing soldier,-realising the odds weren't as favourable as they had been hit Breeze with a flying tackle, slammed her into the ground and somehow spun herself halfway around midair and whipped Inferno across the face with her tail, temporarily blinding him and giving her enough time to pull something from a pouch on the harness she wore.

The next thing Inferno knew, an acrid, eye-watering cloud of thick black smoke rolled across the hilltop, billowing as two sets of great wings powered into the air.

Inferno roared in defiance and launched himself into the air, letting electricity arc over his wings as he rose above the smoke cloud, ready to finish the fight, no matter how it ended. He saw Breeze winging into the air after him and turned to see Gyrfalcon and his remaining escort flying as quickly as they could north-west.

"Blast. They're gone." Breeze swore as she flared her wings and began to hover next to Inferno, who was bobbing inexpertly in the air.

"What was all that about?" Gull asked as he climbed out of the settling smoke, looking darker from the soot coating him.  
"My past come back to haunt me." Breeze said pensively. "I don't want to talk about it. Let's go, before he finds another patrol and comes back." She said, turning back east, to where they had been headed.

Without another word, she flew off, leaving Inferno to give Gull a curious look.

"Don't look at me. We agreed not to talk about where we came from." Gull replied with some disquiet.

Inferno followed as he turned to fly after Breeze, who had already put some distance between the pair and was out of earshot.

"I wouldn't want to cross whoever taught you to fight." Gull said at last. "IceWings. SkyWings… I've never seen anyone as brutal in battle as that."

"Thank…you?" Inferno said uncertainly.

"How'd you do that?" Gull asked, more to himself. "You just _moved._ It was scary, like you didn't care whether you were hurt or who you were fighting or anything…"

Inferno flexed his talons uncomfortably as he heard how disturbed Gull sounded.

"They would've done the same to us, or dragged us off to be killed for their amusement." He argued, though what Gull said made a chill creep down his spine. He didn't feel anything about the lives he'd just taken. Neither pity nor disgust.  
They'd stood against them. Threatened them. Now they were dead and no longer a threat.

"That doesn't make it right that we should kill them." Gull snapped back angrily, then caught himself. "I didn't run away from home to keep killing people." He said bitterly, before beating up and leaving Inferno behind as he tried to catch up to Breeze.

Inferno just glided after them as he tried to make sense of what had just happened:

They'd encountered a patrol, it had been obvious to him that Breeze had lost the initiative in the negotiations and things had been about to go wrong, so he'd taken the initiative back and turned things back on the patrol.

It had been what Breeze had told him to do.

Wondering if the deaths were necessary or not was irrelevant: It was done. In the past. They were alive and more or less unharmed.  
Maybe not out of danger,-they'd likely need to find a place to lay low for a while for that to happen,-but they had a good head start over Gyrfalcon at the very least.

He shrugged mentally and made a note to himself to ask Breeze what he'd done wrong later and increased his own speed as he went to catch the pair up.

* * *

Gyrfalcon snarled as Encarael cleaned the wounds the arrogant mongrel, 'Typhus,' had dealt him.

"Sorry." She said softly. "Tell me if you need a moment."

"It's nothing making that dragonet scream for mercy won't cure." Gyrfalcon assured her.

He hadn't paid Encarael much attention before now:  
Jasper had been his second and dealt with all the more tedious parts of his commission and received a generous stipend for his family for it. Gyrfalcon felt a moment's pity for his son back in the Sky Kingdom. An orphan now and thus a Ward of the Queen.

Not a fate the poor dragonet deserved.

Zephyr and Gale had been soldiers of unremarkable standing, but unwavering in their service and dedication, qualities Gyrfalcon admired.

He felt a pang of grief as he remembered how Typhus had smashed Gale into the ground and killed her.  
He'd never feel her curled up beside him again. Never hear the others complain in jest about him 'playing favourites,' or jokingly reprimand Zephyr for his graphic and sarcastic advice about what the two of them could do the next time they had a room to themselves. He'd never be able to follow through on those same suggestions with Gale ever again either.

"Sir?" Encarael asked, uncertainly as a reedy keen escaped him, pausing in her work.

With an effort of will, Gyrfalcon swallowed the tears he wanted to let fall and steadied his voice, before looking up at Encarael.

She was still young, despite the hardships of the war. Still bright and optimistic, not yet ground down by the days and weeks and months of grinding patrols and skirmishes.

"Carry on, Encarael." He said heavily.  
"Yessir." She said quietly, more subdued than she usually was.

"We'll get them." He promised, though whether he was promising the ghosts of Jasper, Gale and Zephyr, Encarael or himself, even he wasn't sure.  
"We will." Encarael agreed, a note of quiet menace bleeding into her voice. "After we've had these looked at properly and…replenish ranks." She finished sadly. "I'm sorry. I know you and Gale were…close."

Gyrfalcon simply nodded, unwilling to talk about it as Encarael affixed a poultice over his injuries.

"We'll grieve in due course." He said heavily. "Do you have any family, Encarael?" He asked, to take his mind off of the stinging throb of the healing salve as it began its work.

"My father is an officer in Her Majesty's army posted as a liaison with Queen Moorhen's forces in the Diamondspray Delta." She replied formally. "I've got a sister going through the cadet program at the palace under Princess Ruby…No one else. My mother was in that breeding project before it produced that freak Peril. I never knew her."

She coiled her tail between her paws and curled up, looking queerly fragile to Gyrfalcon, despite the fact she'd stunned a dangerous renegade SkyWing warrior out of what had looked like some sort of battle-trance with a brilliantly executed tail strike.

"Well for their sake, I'll strive to prevent this happening again." Gyrfalcon vowed. "This war has claimed enough lives without treacherous profiteers adding to that toll."

"What was that about anyway sir?" Encarael asked curiously, then shook her head, hunching over as though she expected him to strike her. "Sorry. I didn't mean-"

"It's alright." He assured as he looked out at the twilit Badlands below the shallow cave where they rested.

No fire. Even this far from the battlefronts, SandWing brigands and long range scouts loyal to Blaze were distinct possibilities.

"I was supposed to sire an egg by Breeze to solidify an alliance between our two families, however, she attempted to elope with some lowlife wastrel from a minor house." He explained. "That was three years ago now."  
"What happened to her paramour?" Encarael asked curiously.  
"What usually happens when some idiot comes between an ambitious noble and their ambitions." Gyrfalcon chuckled darkly. "Lord Maelstrom isn't known for his leniency." He added. "Breeze ripped his wings so badly he still hasn't regained full use of his wings in retaliation, however."

Encarael nodded jerkily.

"You don't mean…" She gulped. "You don't mean the same Maelstrom commanding our forces on the border with the Icefields, do you?" She asked, her voice raising in pitch at the thought.  
"The very same." Gyrfalcon replied. "The alliance is still pending. However, Breeze is Lord Maelstrom's only heir and I number as the only son from a clutch of six." He explained. "Patriarchs being what they are, our fathers insist that the proposed alliance be sealed by our children." He snorted. "I suppose Breeze found the thought of raising a clutch of hatchlings to please her father about as distasteful as I did, though for different reasons to myself."

"So what does that mean for us now?" Encarael asked.  
"My father would kill me if I killed Breeze, so when we'll need to capture her, but the SeaWing and that renegade are a different matter. Dead is dead, though I wouldn't mind watching Peril burn them alive after today." Gyrfalcon replied with a low growl.

Encarael nodded in understanding.

"Ah, you needn't worry yourself." Gyrfalcon said. "Rest up. We've still got some way to go tomorrow. I'll take the first watch."

Encarael nodded gratefully.

"Thank you, sir." She said as she settled herself. "Goodnight."

"Sleep well." Gyrfalcon said softly as he saw her relax as sleep overtook her.

**What's this?**

**More OCs?**

**And a villain that makes the main character look like a psychotic killer?**

**I guess I've gained a taste for tragic story arcs lately. Can't rightly say why.**

**But wow, Gyrfalcon really came out of nowhere insofar as inspiration goes.**

**And yes, he may tip this story a little more towards the 'M' rating than usual, but nothing happened and if SkyWings don't have courtly intrigue, regarding marriage alliances and the like, I'd be very surprised.**

**I'd like to thank The Friendly Space Marine for dropping a review on Guardsman that lead to a refreshing discussion on some of the shared themes and tone of 40k and WoF which provided me with the impetus to actually finish this chapter.**

**And if you're looking to fill in the time between my updates, give his story, 'Cynder: Wings of Sky' a look.**

**It's a pretty solid story concept and if the opening chapters are a bit short, it's definitely headed in the right direction in so far as the characters go.**

**Thank you to everyone who's favourited and followed, either me as an author or just this story and a big thank you for reviewing to:**

**Hideout Writer, zero, FlopsMcGee, P0PULARMM0S and MinecraftZerneas.**

**Thank you all and I'll see you next time.**


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter VIII

Stranger in a Strange Land

**Disclaimer: See Chapter One.**

They didn't stop to make camp that evening, continuing until one of the moons had set and the second looked to be getting ideas about going the same way.

Gull was beginning to tire, but declined when Inferno offered to take the burden of the shelter from him, despite his own fatigue.

Their earlier skirmish and the lack of likely campsites were reasons enough to continue on through the night in Inferno's eyes and it seemed that Breeze shared his sentiment, though she seemed to have deeper reserves than he did, because though he wasn't going to admit it, all that was keeping Inferno going was a stubborn desire to keep up.

He didn't even realise he'd drifted to the ground until his forepaws caught a fallen tree and he went tumbling across the skree, coming to a rest in an aching tangle of limbs.

He lay there in a daze, unable to muster the energy to move and before long, Breeze's face came into view upside down and slightly blurred.

"Here's as good a place as any to stop, but do you think you could manage to move a bit so we don't have to spend the night next such an obvious tell that someone's been here?" She asked.

Instead of replying, Inferno rolled onto his feet unsteadily.

"Where?" He slurred heavily, then an abyss opened up before him and he fell forward into darkness.

* * *

Breeze sighed as Inferno collapsed, his head coming to rest across her shoulders.

"You're a stubborn one, aren't you?" She mused to herself as she pulled him onto her back as best she could manage and started dragging him back to where Gull had cleared out a small hollow for them to rest in.

* * *

Somewhere along the line, things had gone wrong.

Incandiasa was quite certain on this point for a number of reasons.

Chief among them was the fact dragons didn't have monarchies.

"I'm sure you'd be _thrilled_ by the royal library back at my palace."

"Fond as I am of scrolls, I prefer being able to query details." Incandiasa replied with an indifferent flip of her wings. "Of course, I wouldn't dream of keeping someone so burdened by duty as yourself from them to sate my curiosity." She added, consciously choosing her words to keep herself from becoming entangled with some obligation she didn't need.

"I'm sure my lorekeeper would be _thrilled_ to help you. Too few people are interested in such topics these days, what with everything going on." Incandiasa's new temporary travelling companion,-a self-proclaimed 'SkyWing,' and evidently a Queen as well called Scarlet,-replied.

Incandiasa actually considered this. Consulting a Guardian, or failing that a similarly knowledgeable dragon would likely be invaluable.

She sighed as she reached her conclusion.  
"I'm not sure I can spare the time. The friend I mentioned...He'd stand even less chance on his own in the wild knowing nothing than I would." She explained, thinking back to the events just prior to their violent exit from Convexity and the nightmarish power she'd witnessed, followed by a seeming miracle.  
"A pity." Scarlet replied with seeming sympathy, though something about her manner didn't sit well with Incandiasa, almost as if she were being mocked.

Incandiasa paused as she heard voices and the crashing of a bipedal creature running through the brush.

"Hear that?" She asked.  
"I do." Scarlet replied with a note promising violence in her voice.

Incandiasa followed as Scarlet crept through the brush, gathering speed as she got closer to her target while Incandiasa chose to simply move stealthily, letting the Queen crash ahead and put distance between them while she hid her presence from their quarry while she thought about how to extricate herself from this unwanted and quite likely unhealthy acquaintance.

It had been a little more than a week since she'd arrived in this twisted mirror-realm to the Dragon Realms.  
She bitterly cursed herself for not listening to Vance when he'd said his going into Convexity was suicide.

It almost had been.

His psychic power had attracted a malevolent spirit,-either native to the Realms or an invader from the Dark World,- and when he'd attempted to counter it, had attracted the attention of a far more powerful and outright evil entity that had twisted his body into a horrifying, corrupted mess of limbs and teeth.

If the Purple Dragon, Spyro that she and Vance had been accompanying hadn't used whatever power he'd awakened on Cynder and shattered the entity that had been attacking Vance and herself, they'd likely both be dead or worse, rather than wherever they were.

What was more amazing, was that in the fallout of whatever Spyro had done, the broken mockery Vance had been reduced to had _changed._

It hadn't been the sickening horror the demon had wrought, but a more…_right_…change, as if whatever was causing it had taken what he had been and corrected the wrongness done to him.

She hadn't seen the end result of the transformation, because it had been at that moment they'd been ejected,-quite violently,-back into what she had assumed was the Dragon Realms…at least until she'd encountered what she'd assumed was an Ice Dragon, only to have the crazy bastard attack her when she'd caught him up to ask for some help finding her bearings.

If she hadn't cloaked herself in a sphere of fire and charged him, his initial blast of ice breath would likely have shattered her.  
The fight had left her with some nasty scratches, which she'd had to be content simply cleaning, since healing crystals seemed to be rare or non-existent wherever she was.

She was snapped from her musings as she saw she'd reached the edge of a clearing and saw Scarlet addressing a dark blue adolescent dragon and a brown adolescent, both of whom looked ever so slightly terrified, a fact Scarlet seemed to be enjoying immensely, up until the dark blue one pinned her tail to the forest floor with a sword that presumably belonged to the decapitated, roughly dressed human lying in the dirt among various ornaments.

Incandiasa simply crouched motionless while Scarlet raged and swore, eventually recovering enough sense to pull the sword free, before collecting the stolen treasures and taking to the wing, seemingly having forgotten about Incandiasa.

When Incandiasa was sure Scarlet was gone and wasn't simply hovering overhead or had circled back and was hunting her, she cautiously crept into the clearing and examined the human's corpse.

It looked malnourished and as if it had spent most of its life living hard.

Satisfied its corpse had no stories to tell, she moved onto the sword that Scarlet had simply discarded. She carefully picked it up between her talons and examined the ornately worked basket hilt.

A feeling of excitement ignited in her gut.

She knew this weapon.

As if on cue, it crackled to life and she released it before she lost her talons to its edge.

It dropped, then slowed to a stop before it dug into the dirt, held by a wraith-like hand gloved in black leather, attached to a leanly muscled arm inside a battered black long-coat belonging to a grizzled man who in life must've spent most of it grimacing in distaste or sneering.

He was dark, imposing and the hint of burning red light beneath a black eye-patch and topped by a very official looking officer's cap left anyone who cared to judge in no doubt that Commissar Rigal Chekhov had been had been a formidable dispensary of military justice in life.

Now in death, he was a figure of nightmares for anyone he was unleashed against.

"Dragon." He greeted simply, before kicking the corpse at his feet. "About time one of you found me." He said gruffly.

"A happy coincidence." Incandiasa replied, not bothering to hide the irony in her voice as the spectral commissar retrieved his sword's sheath. "I was hoping I'd find you with Vance, to be perfectly honest." She added.

The Commissar snorted.

"Would've been preferable to being used by this criminal scum." He replied mordantly, before looking to the sky. "This place is at war." He said, vindictive satisfaction clear in his voice.  
"So I noticed. Any idea where Vance might be?" Incandiasa questioned.

Rigal shook his head once.

"I know he's _here_, but's he's beyond my sight." He replied, before looking curiously to the south west. "Seems your new friend has found some friends and those juvies have gone to ground." He added almost casually. "It would be in our best interest to leave before she comes looking for you." He replied, before crossing to Incandiasa's left foreleg and belting his sword's sheath to it, before sheathing the blade and fading from existence.

_Never knew he could be so personable._ She thought with something like resignation, before taking to the wing and heading south east, away from where she'd heard Scarlet heading.

**An update this soon after the last?**

**This is what happens when I get helpful advice and enthusiastic reviews like the one The Friendly Space Marine left. Kudos for the help.**

**Is this coming out of left-field?**

**Why yes, I suppose it would seem a bit like that if you're reading this story cold. I'm trying to make this story as accessible as possible, but as I've said previously, it continues on from another story after a fashion, so it may be a little bit like that until later on.**

**On a completely unrelated note, I recently brought Shadow of Mordor.**

**Oh my Valar, I had no idea what I was missing.**

**Onto whom I have to thank for reviews this time:**

**The Friendly Space Marine, who you all have to thank for this update, EVILMINIONKEVIN, zero fullbuster and that's it.**

**Guess there aren't many names this time around, due to a speedy update.**

**On another note, I'm going to be sending a sample of my original work to a publisher soon, so wish me luck there.**

**Now if you'll excuse me, the statue of a certain Dark Lord has a date with a few barrels of black powder…**

**See you all next time.**


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter IX

Fire and Visions

**Disclaimer: See Chapter One.**

Inferno awoke to Breeze nestled quite comfortably into his belly, almost as if she'd tried to curl around him in her sleep.

A quick glance around camp revealed Gull was awake and quietly eating a deer of some description.

He felt himself flush for some reason as Gull turned to regard him with a guarded look.

"Does Breeze do this with everyone?" He asked quietly, nodding to the still blissfully slumbering dragoness.  
"Only time she ever did that with me, we were in danger of freezing to death on the edge of the Ice Kingdom." Gull replied with a shrug. "Might have something to do with you being a SkyWing." He added with seeming indifference.  
"You're not jealous, are you?" Inferno asked. That would be a complication they really didn't need.  
"No, we're just friends." Gull replied. "What concerns me is what you did yesterday." He added seriously.

"I haven't changed my stance on that: They would've been quite content maiming us then watching us die in a pit for their amusement." Inferno said archly.

"You could've had the same effect if you had've just shocked them." Gull replied reasonably. "Those soldiers most likely had families. It wasn't-"

"-Personal?" Inferno finished. "I know. But we were outnumbered and we didn't have the time to think of better options, if there even were any." He added. "I've already had someone nearly kill me for no reason, I wasn't going to let it happen again. Especially not when it looks like I might be able to rely on you two."

Gull sighed.

"The other thing is how you did it." He admitted. "SkyWings have got some of the best trained soldiers in Pyrrhia. You killed two of them almost without effort." He explained. "No offence, but I've seen you fly, and frankly, I've seen hatchlings more graceful in the air." He added. "There's something very off with that and it scares me."

Inferno blinked.

"I…honestly didn't think of it that way." He admitted, nonplussed.

A yawn and Breeze shifting next to him heralded her entrance into the waking world.

"Think you could talk any louder without yelling?" She asked, walking a short distance from Inferno so she could stretch, cat like, before regarding the pair of them over her shoulder as she spread her wings to their fullest extent until the joints popped.

"Ready to go already?" Gull asked curiously.

Breeze nodded in confirmation.

"Gyrfalcon is probably tracking us as we speak." She said by way of explanation. "The more distance we can put between where we fought and ourselves, the better. Besides, we're nearly to Jade Mountain as it is," she added, indicating a twin-peaked mountain on the horizon with a sweep of her wing, making Inferno duck to avoid getting batted in the face.

Inferno picked himself up, hissing as muscles gone stiffed were forced to move. His tail twitched irritably at the reminder of the previous day's crash-landing.

He noticed Breeze looking at him as he shook the cramps out of his wings, though it didn't seem to be as wary as Gull's had been.

It was more curious, as if she were trying to make sense of a puzzle.

_And I wonder why that would be?_ He thought bitterly, driving himself into the air and flying a loop around the camp, looking for signs of others in the skies.

Gull and Breeze followed shortly afterward and he dropped into position to take advantage of Gull's wake.

* * *

This time, their journey was almost boring, without even sight of another dragon on the horizon to break the monotony through the foothills of the mountain.

Before the sun had reached its zenith, they reached the mountain and shortly after that, landed in a sheltered cave overlooking a lake.

At the sight of the lake, Gull bid Breeze and Inferno good luck hunting, dumped the shelter and launched himself back into the air, before diving into the lake with a colossal splash once he was over it, resurfacing shortly thereafter with a fish halfway down his gullet and a further two in his claws before he disappeared under the surface again.

"Well, at least one of us is going to have a good time here." Breeze observed, coming up beside Inferno, who'd been watching Gull.

"Do you think Gyrfalcon will be able to find us here?" He asked.

He didn't fancy his chances against the older SkyWing in a rematch. Not with the element of surprise gone and his lack of skill in the air.

"Depends. This mountain has a lot of places to hide, not to mention the foothills surrounding it." Breeze replied as she approached a stand of ferns growing in the shadow of a parted column by the cave mouth, looking at them curiously.  
"You didn't want to leave anymore trace than necessary to make it more difficult for him to track us." Inferno realised.

"That only worked because you're a stubborn one." Breeze replied, flicking her tail lazily, before turning to look at him instead.

"You Inferno, are a puzzle, in an enigma, wrapped in a mystery." She said, walking towards him. "You fly with all the grace of a scavenger, fight like a cornered animal and have got the sort of killer's instinct that Queen Scarlet started a _breeding project_, with her best and most loyal soldiers to try and get in her warriors." She stopped nose to nose with Inferno, who realised quite abruptly he stood slightly higher than her at the shoulder and that her eyes were dusky gold.

"And…?" Inferno asked uncertainly.

"You're adorably clueless." She said. "I quite like you," she added, "but, Gull has raised a good point: Namely, that your lack of restraint could very easily make enemies."

Inferno looked away.

"They attacked us." He said. "You told me to scare them off if you couldn't talk them down and bribe them…" He shook his head and began to pace, wings flexing restlessly. "I don't want to fight." He said restlessly. "They forced our hand. They wouldn't have baulked at a few scratches and a new trick!" He hissed, voice developing a rumbling growl and deepening to the point it was possible to feel it thrumming in the air.

He turned to meet Breeze's gaze again.

"I did what I had to. I don't know how I did it so easily, but don't believe for one moment I did it out of hand." He said, noticing her shiver.

"Talons…" She said with feeling. "Your voice just then…" She shivered again. "I think you might want to join Gull and go for a swim before we do anything else."

"And why would that be?" Inferno asked, still pacing.

How dare she insinuate he couldn't control himself? As if he killed out of hand and was some sort of animal.

"Webs ever explain where eggs come from?" She asked.

"He didn't have ti- wait, what?" Inferno stopped mid stride, snapped out of his affront by Breeze's question.

"Do you know how eggs are made?" Breeze asked patiently.  
"I'm lead to believe it involves a male and a female and a night spent together." He replied blithely. "What's that got to do with what happened back on that hill?"  
"Nothing. Just, right then…" Breeze swished her tail and kneaded the rock beneath her talons. "Have you been feeling okay? Any hot flushes?" She asked.

Now that she mentioned it, he did feel quite warm.

"I feel warm right now…" He admitted uncertainly.

"And of course you go all alpha male _right_ when we're being chased by a dragon as stubborn as Gyrfalcon." She sighed resignedly. "Okay, we're not staying here then." She added.

Inferno felt himself flushing again as he realised what Breeze was saying and a dizzy feeling washed through him, making him stagger, then he fell sideways, asleep before he hit the floor.

* * *

He awoke in the abandoned arena again.

"_Are you insinuating something, Chronicler?" _Inferno called to the arena at large. _"Because if you are, I'm offended you think so little of me."_

Silence met his statement and he huffed in disgust, looking around the arena for some way out.

He found it in a broken arch to his right that seemed to lead to a courtyard lit by a bonfire.

He shivered. He hadn't realised how cold the arena was and loped towards the arch, determined to keep near the fire where it would be warmer.

As he entered the arch, he realised it lead through a connecting tunnel, then stopped abruptly as he emerged onto a ledge overlooking a familiar mountain side.

_As he watched, he saw a group of SkyWings wearing armour similar to Gyrfalcon's lead a group of familiar dragonets from a small ravine, along with another SkyWing under heavy guard and tethered to her minders. __He recognised Kestral and wondered what had happened for them to be found and imprisoned.  
__A SkyWing dressed in golden mail strode around the group seemingly giving orders and inspecting the restraints, before the group took to the sky, headed to the north._

_The scene changed._

_He saw the dragon from his dreams flying through the sunlit sky._

_Her wounds looked to have healed somewhat and an ornament of some sort was strapped to her foreleg. It glinted golden in the sun, but that was all Inferno could deduce from it._

_Suddenly, another red dragon swooped from above and slammed into her, before recoiling as a burst of flames erupted around them, allowing the first dragon to swoop away and turn to face her attacker, who had also taken to hovering._

_Inferno recognised Gyrfalcon by his pauldrons and the three scars disfiguring his brow where he'd clawed him._

_Words Inferno could not hear were exchanged as Gyrfalcon's remaining underling swooped down to hover at her commander's back._

The scene faded and Inferno found himself in the courtyard before the bonfire he'd been trying to reach.

"_I do not doubt your discretion Inferno." _The Chronicler said, his voice echoing from nowhere. _"I brought you here to teach you."_

"_The power of lightning is already mine." _Inferno said. _"I didn't think wielding more than one was possible."  
_"_A remnant of a greater whole." _The Chronicler replied. _"One you're fortunate to wield, though it has delayed the onset of the one you should have manifested."  
_"_Which is?"_ Inferno asked.

What he wouldn't give for some answers without having to prompt them from the Chronicler.

"_Fire."_ The Chronicler replied. _"Now claim it."_

At these words, the bonfire roared into a towering column and heat grew suddenly intense enough for Inferno to take a step back.

A vision of an ice field and a scorched ape, followed by a burned encampment swam through his mind and a peculiar feeling took hold of Inferno.

Without consciously acknowledging it, he walked into the fire.  
Vertigo seized him and memories, sensations and sensory input washed through him. He roared to the heavens and reared on his hind legs, wings mantled above his head before spreading them wide and expelling the fire in a shockwave.

* * *

An explosion ripped Inferno from his sleep and he tripped over, looking around the cavern to find himself in the middle of a scorched circle on the stone that still smouldered sullenly.

The sound of wingbeats heralded Breeze and Gull, both looking alarmed as they gingerly came in to land.

"What in Pyrrhia was that?" Breeze asked cautiously.

"I don't know, one moment we were talking, then I blacked out." Inferno replied.

"Yeah?" Breeze said. "Well I was trying to wake you for a good minute, then those tattoos on your wings lit up like fat in a fire and you started rising up, next thing I know you're wreathed in flame."

"You exploded." Gull elaborated. "Breeze had the good sense to dive into the lake with me before it happened, but the fact remains, you just exploded like a dragonflame cactus."

"A what?" Inferno asked.  
"A noxious weed that explodes when it's set on fire." Breeze explained, sounding shaken. "The SkyWing army uses them as a weapon against strongpoints or to break formations." She clarified.

"Oh." Inferno said. "I…that…" He shook his head.

"I had a dream." He admitted.

"And you exploded in the dream?" Gull prompted.  
"No, not at first. I walked into a fire after a voice calling itself 'The Chronicler' told me to claim it." He explained. "There were these weird visions as well, and an arena. Gyrfalcon was in one of the visions, and one of the Talons of Peace and a group of dragonets were in another."

He shook his head.

"It was surreal."

Gull and Breeze traded looks.

"Have you had dreams like that before?" Gull asked, an odd note in his voice.  
"Once or twice." He admitted.  
"Was one of those times when you discovered those lightning powers?" Breeze prompted.  
"Yes…" Inferno said uncertainly.  
"Do you feel cold at all when you use those lightning powers?" Gull asked.  
"No, why?" Inferno asked. "Look, what are the pair of you driving at?"

"What you're demonstrating is more common in animus dragons,-dragons that can use magic." Gull replied. "They're rare, very powerful and their abilities have a nasty habit of driving those who possess them mad and turning them evil." He explained. "That said, I've never heard of an animus dragon exploding, or their ability to breathe fire being stunted, let alone being able to manipulate lightning."

"So what? I'm going to turn evil?" Inferno asked rhetorically. "Evil by what measure?"

"That's not what I'm saying!" Gull snapped. "I'm saying that animus dragons occasionally have dreams like you described." He tapped his claws against the rock. "Us SeaWings are taught the history of our royal lineage. Animus powers run in their bloodline and at one point, one of the most powerful animus dragons ever was a SeaWing prince who went mad from overusing his powers." He said, as if he were thinking out loud.

"No way that we can go looking in the Kingdom of the Sea for answers, Gull." Breeze said. "The fact two of us don't have gills and would be considered enemies right off being the chief reasons."

"True." Gull replied. "We could always try and find the animus that's supposed to live here." He ventured.  
"I've said before I don't believe that stupid story, Gull." Breeze replied. "Besides, a hermit animus dragon? Trying to find him would be a bad idea to begin with, considering how unstable he could be."

"Well what do you suggest?" Gull replied.

"Remember that old scroll we were sent to find?" She asked in return.

"I remember we nearly froze to death in the tundra trying to find it." Gull replied.

"There was definitely stuff in the library it was in on animus powers." Breeze replied. "Blaze still owes us for our work. Let's cash in."

"That's on the opposite side of Pyrrhia!" Gull protested. "More to the point, we just got here, we now have an angry SkyWing noble hunting us from that direction and I don't think I need to remind you Maelstrom is the one in charge of the SkyWing forces on that front. Not to mention that Blaze is as stupid as a sack of hammers."

"Precisely the reason I don't think she's half bad." Breeze replied. "Look I know it's risky, but we really don't have any other options." She said.  
"The NightWings?" Gull asked, almost hopefully.  
"I wouldn't trust those shifty scavengers to pile rocks, let alone answer questions regarding animus powers." Breeze replied.

"Are you two going to explain any of that?" Inferno asked as he watched the conversation go back and forth.

"A lucky find on an old treasure hunt on behalf of Blaze." Gull said. "She wanted to give Queen Glacier a gift for her hatchday, so she thought an old, very rare scroll supposedly lost in the tundra would make an appropriate gift." He explained. "Fortunately for her, her officers compensate for her lack of a functional brain and one of them had enough sense to hire us to look for it."  
"We wound up running around the tundra with an IceWing liaison seconded to Blaze's stronghold for the better part of a month and nearly freezing to death." Breeze added.  
"But, at the end of it, we found the scroll in a lost archive hidden under the ice and protected by a very clever pressure plate trap." Gull finished. "There were a lot of rare, very valuable scrolls and dangerous information in there, so we paid our guide off to keep quiet and took the scroll we were sent there for back to Blaze in time to meet the Ice Queen herself on a visit to discuss a battle we'd missed."

"And you think there'll be something there that might shed some light on what exactly is going on with me?" Inferno asked skeptically.

"When I said 'dangerous information,' I meant there were appeared to be a great many scrolls devoted to arcane lore." Gull replied. "The sort of stuff that you normally hear legends about. There was an actual account of Prince Albatross's construction of the Summer Palace and his descent into madness there." He said seriously. "A catalogue of animus artefacts, as well as a map that looked like it depicted an ancient system of settlements that spanned Pyrrhia."

He shook his head.

"There're answers to questions no one has asked in thousands of years in that archive." He said with certainty. "Unfortunately, it's surfaced at a time where that sort of knowledge could very easily lead to a great deal of suffering."

"That still doesn't change the fact we just got here." He said. "This… maybe it's important. But I'm still weak. I'm still mostly relying on you two for food and guidance. Can we at least take a day or two to rest so I can learn how to not be so pathetic?" He asked.

"Two to one Breeze." Gull said in agreement.

"We have been flying a lot, haven't we?" She relented. "Alright. We'll take a break for a day or two. Maybe we'll get a job in the meantime. But after that, we're heading back north. Maybe cut through the rainforest and skirt the edge of the Sky Kingdom so we don't have to risk a repeat encounter with Gyrfalcon."

She turned to Inferno.

"In the meantime, I believe I promised I'd teach you to hunt."

**Good grief.**

**Exposition and setting up plot for the future.**

**Not to mention Gull turning out to be a bit of a scholar.**

**I don't even know sometimes.**

**Now.**

**In terms of when this takes place in the Legend of Spyro timeline for those who're curious, this takes place just after New Beginning, through the gap between that game and The Eternal Night and is eventually going to run alongside it.**

**Aside from that, I'd like to thank Hideout Writer and The Friendly Space Marine for reviewing.**

**Amazing how short that list is when I update on a regular basis, isn't it?**

**Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter and I'll see you next time.**


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter X

Questions and Answers

**Disclaimer: See Chapter One.**

The Night of Eternal Darkness drew near, though to Malefor, the Dark Master, it couldn't come soon enough.

As he was trapped in Convexity, a nightmare realm bordering the Dark World where time didn't know what to do with itself, that night might as well be at the end of time.

On the upside, the duel between Cynder and that new purple upstart 'Spyro' had had an interesting side-effect:

It had been surprising that the young purple dragon had brought company in the form of another dragon, a dragonfly and a malformed Ape bearing weapons and armour far ahead of what he'd gifted King Gaul, but nowhere near as much as when a demon of the Outer Darkness had been attracted to the Ape-thing.

The surprises hadn't ended there either:

The fallout from Cynder's battle with the young Purple Dragon had made the demon flee back to whence it came and cast its victims out.

That in and of itself wasn't surprising.

Stranger things happened in Convexity.

What was keeping Malefor's attention was _where _the Purple Dragon's lost companions had wound up:

A realm very similar to the Dragon Realms, though as Malefor sifted through the remnants of dreams, he found sorrow, terror and pain.

The tell-tale signs of a Realm at war.

In his prison of milennia, Malefor smiled.

* * *

"By the Ancestors, if you're so dense you can't tell the difference between a male and a female, I don't need a scrying pool to see you're going to have a time of it finding a mate." Incandiasa said scornfully to the armoured almost-but-not-quite fire dragon hovering across from her as another came to hover beside and slightly behind him.

"My apologies again." The stranger said, sounding quite sincere. "Like I said, I mistook you for a dangerous renegade who killed most of my soldiers not two days ago." He added. "Though, now I see you up close, I can tell I was most certainly mistaken."

"Well, I wish you the best of luck in future then." Incandiasa replied. "If you would excuse me however, I've business of my own to attend to."  
"Might I know where you're heading? I could use someone with your skills when I go to hunt the renegade I mentioned down." Gyrfalcon asked quickly.  
"I don't even know where I am properly." Incandiasa admitted. "South west is really all I've decided on."  
"Then perhaps we shall meet again." Gyrfalcon replied. "Farewell."

So saying, he wheeled about, his companion in tow and flew northward, leaving Incandiasa to head her own way.

_Him and Cyril would get on well. _She mused. _I'd best put some distance between us in case he's got anything to do with Scarlet and she doesn't know how to take 'no' for an answer._

This resolution in mind, she angled south-west as she had indicated before setting off at rate that would've seen her from the Northern Wastes to the Dragon Temple in a day and still leave her fresh enough to fight an Ape raiding party.

* * *

The sun had set and Gull was pleasantly full of fish and fresh from a swim in the lake.

It didn't have the same texture as sea water, but compared to the creeks he'd had to make do with ever since they'd finished their last job for an old friend of Breeze's overseeing a trade between said SkyWing's squad and SeaWing smugglers, it had been bliss to actually swim for a change.

That said, he was uneasy.

He was staring at the object of his discomfort across the cave, curled up asleep while Breeze was curled up opposite him, though not so far away.

He'd volunteered to stand the first watch, but there was a conversation that needed to be had.

This in mind, he crept closer to Breeze and nudged her awake.

"We need to talk." He said in an undertone, motioning towards the cave entrance.

Breeze frowned, but padded after him as he took to the wing and glided towards the lake shore.

They'd survived so long by not taking chances they didn't have to and avoiding problems that were more trouble than they were worth.

So far, Inferno was doing very little but ringing alarm bells to Gull and yet Breeze seemed totally smitten.

He was going to get to the bottom of it.

"Why are we still with him?" He asked as Breeze landed behind him.

"Gull, really?" Breeze asked. "He'd be dead within a week on his own." She replied.

She yawned, giving him an almost reproachful look, the moonlight glinting off her scales as she stretched, claws cracking pebbles on the rocky shingle.

Gull winced internally. A sleep-deprived Breeze was not a pleasant Breeze.

"Alright, he's got the survival abilities of a hatchling." Gull conceded. "That doesn't change the fact he's a scarily competent fighter for no apparent reason, claims to have amnesia and that's not even mentioning the lightning or that random _explosion_ this afternoon!" He hissed. He met Breeze's irritated look with a deadly serious one, tail lashing restlessly. "Something is very, very off with Inferno and you seem to be cutting him a _lot_ of slack." He said. "We've been partners for a long time now." He said, flexing his wings. "But you seem to be breaking a few of your own rules here. I just want to know why we're putting ourselves at risk like this. As your friend, if not your partner." He sighed.

He always had trouble phrasing these sorts of questions with Breeze, but this was one instance where the effort was necessary.

Breeze sighed.

"I guess he reminds me a little bit like myself when I ran away from the Sky Kingdom." She said with a shrug. "Reckless, impulsive… Clueless, if I'm honest." She admitted, then held up a wing as Gull took a breath to ask another question. "However, as you pointed out, there's the whole lightning and random explosion thing to think about. I'm willing to bet that whatever is going on there ought to be worth the risk looking into." She said.

"What're you thinking?" Gull asked.

"I'm thinking, if Inferno has some weird power that lets him control lightning and that explosion had something to do with that power increasing, that if he can learn to control that power, he can be the muscle in our group."

"You want to recruit him?" Gull clarified, skepticism clear in his voice.

"Look, if it turns out he's too dangerous to be around, we make our excuses and bail the first chance we get. In the meantime, he needs help." She explained. "He's a quick study and he's actually pretty sharp as well." She added, though there was an odd note in her voice, like she was hiding something.

"But that's not the whole reason, is it?" Gull prompted.

Breeze lowered her head and hunched, her wings curling, but she didn't say anything.

"No." She said at last, reluctantly. "It's…personal." She said after a pause.

She turned away.

"That encounter with that other SkyWing? Gyrfalcon? That…has a lot to do with it."

"Do you want to talk about it?" Gull asked, taking a hesitant step towards her.

It was very unlike Breeze to let her guard down enough to be truly vulnerable.

Usually when she did, it was a ruse to gain an opening, but this time Gull knew it was genuine. He'd seen the act enough times to tell the difference.

"I…Abandoning him would be what my father would do. I'm not a merciless, power-hungry killer." She said quietly.

Gull nodded.

"You're not." He affirmed. "I mean, you've saved me how many times when you could've escaped yourself?" He asked rhetorically.

Breeze smiled faintly.

"Thanks Gull." She said softly. "Let's get back to the cave."

**Okay, not my best work, but it was kind of getting to the point where I needed to tie this back to Legend of Spyro and Gull and Breeze needed some character development.**

**Thanks to Grey Noise for pointing out that Gull and Breeze really hadn't had their reasons for helping Inferno properly fleshed out.**

**On that note, thank you to:**

**Grey Noise, SepticEye and MinecraftZerneas for reviewing.**

**See you next time.**


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter XI

Winding Paths

**Disclaimer: See Chapter One.**

"I feel like I've done this already today." Incandiasa grumbled with false cheer. "What do you want?" She growled to the black dragon that had intercepted her from the north. "I have got better things to do than satisfy the curiosity of every dragon this side of Warfang." She added, letting smoke trail from her nostrils, a promise of what she would do if her time was wasted.

"Very cute Inferno, but you don't frighten me." The black dragon said with such a condescending sneer in his voice Incandiasa felt the urge to try and tackle him out of the sky, even though he had a foot at the shoulder and three metres in length on her, not to mention a great deal of mass.

"Excuse me, but you've definitely got the wrong dragon. _My _name is Incandiasa." She growled. "Who are you and what do you want?"

The newcomer regarded her with the sort of imperious expression that immediately brought Cyril to mind. Cyril after catching her and a few other youngsters slipping carrion into his quarters as a joke and about to set a gruelling essay about the history of the elemental Guardians as punishment.

"Do you know where you are? What is happening? What I am?" He questioned with a trace of cruel humour and mocking in his voice.

"Pyrrhia, southwest of the Claws of the Clouds, close to the border of the Mud Kingdom." She answered, drawing on information she'd gleaned from her brief time hunting with Scarlet.

"The Sand dragons are currently stuck in a war of succession and dragged everyone else into it. As for you, you are too superior by half." She replied.

"You've got an awful lot of nerve talking back to me." The dragon replied, his tone darkening. "I am Morrowseer of the NightWings." He added, with enough gravitas Incandiasa had a feeling he must've done something she'd neither heard of, nor cared about to earn it.

"Charmed. You still haven't told me why you're here." She pointed out evenly.

"I was looking for a dragonet who ran away from home." Morrowseer replied smoothly. "I mistook you for him." He added. "You match his description very closely from a distance. He answers to the name 'Inferno.' If you happen upon him in your travels, bring him to the Talons of Peace and I will see to it you're richly rewarded."

"I'll be sure to keep that in mind." Incandiasa replied. "Good day to you."

With that, she wheeled around Morrowseer and continued south-west, vowing that the next dragon who tried to stop her was going to feel the full force of her growing frustration.

* * *

As it happened, the fourth encounter Incandiasa had with another dragon was with one she'd previously met.

"Gyrfalcon." She greeted tersely. "It looks to me as if you've got enough soldiers to apprehend your criminal." She observed, nodding to the five additional soldiers currently encircling her in addition to the dragoness who'd been accompanying him initially.

The bigger dragon shook his head.

"Her majesty, Queen Scarlet of the SkyWings, sent me to find you specifically on suspicion of colluding with the outlaws known as the Talons of Peace." He replied. "You're under arrest." He added simply.

Incandiasa couldn't help it. The situation was far too asinine.

She chuckled, as she hovered, her mirth growing to a full blown laugh before she could stop herself.

"How, by the Ancestors, did she come to _that _conclusion?!" She growled. "I am _done_ with everyone accosting me, mistaking me for someone else and wasting my time!" She roared, before wreathing herself in flame and surging forward with a beat of her wings, causing the dragon to Gyrfalcon's right to recoil in shock and give Incandiasa an opening to barrel through, before letting her corona of fire to dissipate in favour of rising and veering to the north so the sun was at her back, before spitting a fireball into the wing chasing her.

It exploded in their midst and sowed chaos in the ensuing cloud of smoke, giving Incandiasa a precious second to power towards the south as quickly as she could.

She stopped cold as she saw a second wing closing from that direction, she wheeled to the west only to see a third wing and with a sinking feeling turned east to see a fourth wing,-this time composed of brown dragons rather than the red 'SkyWings' currently closing in on her as Gyrfalcon's wing cleared the smoke cloud and encircled her again.

She roared her frustration to the sky.

"Fine." She spat. "Fine. I'll go with you. Straighten this out." She turned to Gyrfalcon and fixed him with a furious glare. "But if I learn my friend is dead and that I could have saved him if not for this delay, I will kill you." She promised coldly.

Gyrfalcon met her gaze evenly.

"You may try." He replied. "However, I am not so easy to kill as you might assume." He replied as the other three wings closed in and formed a loose sphere around her.

"And if it's the Talons of Peace you're looking for, a dragon calling himself Morrowseer delayed me not half an hour back near the river, then headed north once he'd got it through his thick head I wasn't who he was looking for." She said. "He also said if I found said dragon to go looking for him with them for a reward." She added.

"I'll be sure to pass that along to her majesty, as well as your cooperation." Gyrfalcon said with a trace of irony on 'cooperation'. "I cannot promise any more than that." He added gravely. "Standard escort spread, two above, two below." He ordered, addressing the assembled wings.

Without comment, two dragons ascended to a position above the group while two more dropped below, while the others spread to their respective wings, with Gyrfalcon's in the lead, lending Incandiasa a not unimpressive escort.

"Move out." Gyrfalcon called and once more with precision the formation began flying back towards the mountains, with Incandiasa at their heart.

_If this turns out to be a fit of pique on that dull scaled salamander's part, I'll turn Rigal loose on her._ She thought to herself, letting her bad mood smoulder.

* * *

Inferno was quite glad for the sleep, having sparred with Breeze and Gull, endured a swimming lesson at the former's hands and then a combined flying and hunting lesson at the latter's along with learning more about Pyrrhia in general.

All in all, it had been a long day and if the lessons had been a little haphazard, they'd certainly been informative.

He wasn't all that surprised to find himself in an arena again, although this time, something was different:

Instead of worked stone, the arena he currently occupied was ringed by rough stone tiers that seemed to have been roughly carved more rather than carefully masoned. Great spires of weathered rock soared into the sky in a ring around the arena, casting long shadows as the moons shone behind them and a gigantic web of metal cables spanned between the spires.

Movement caught his attention and he looked to see before him sitting in the sand with an attitude like relaxation, despite the iron tang of blood in the air, a small creature roughly a tenth his size.

It stood, tucking a dark helmet under its arm as it did and turned in Inferno's direction, revealing a lined, pale face, intense brown eyes and no trace of fear.

_"Vermilion."_ The figure greeted with a decidedly strange accent.

Inferno stepped back in shock and glanced behind him to see a SkyWing approaching with a silk sash draped across his shoulders.

He was more startled by the diminutive creature though:

It was wearing armour and bore a knife at its hip, along with what appeared to be a short spear slung across its back.

This in and of itself wasn't surprising. By appearance it looked like a scavenger, from how Breeze and Gull had described them.

What was startling was it was speaking and that he could understand it.

_"That's really unsettling."_ The SkyWing said, rustling his wings.

_"Try having to evade every dragon in this place."_ The scavenger countered. _"Especially after that harridan ordered a sweep specifically targeting those degenerates you call scavengers."_ It added, though Inferno had a feeling it was male.

_"Have you had enough fresh air for one evening?"_ The dragon called Vermilion replied. _"Peril is coming and the last thing I want is to be held up by her."_ He added, with a clear note of anxiety.

_"Nevermind Peril. What did you learn about that dragon that came in with an armada as escort?"_ The scavenger asked, sounding impatient.

_"She stands accused of conspiring with the Talons of Peace and treason. She seems outright mad as well, talking about 'Dragon Realms,' 'Elemental Guardians,' a 'Dark Master' and all sorts of outlandish concoctions."_ Vermilion replied. _"Having the weapon that one of the Talon dragonets stabbed her with didn't help her case."_ He added knowingly.

_"About that, do you think you could either get that sword to me or me to it?"_ The scavenger asked. _"Or to wherever that dragon is being held?"_ He added.

_"Possibly…"_ Vermilion said dubiously. "The weapon has been taken to the armoury,-likely with the other scavenger weapons, as to this 'Incandiasa,' I'll probably have to question her on the Queen's behalf, so I could smuggle you in…" He trailed off. _"Look, we can discuss this as easily in my cave as here, can we go before someone decides you'll make a good after dinner snack?"_ He said anxiously.

_"You've got to stop assuming I'm completely helpless."_ The scavenger said seriously. _"But leaving a corpse out here isn't going to do either of us any favours, so lets."_ He conceded clambering up between Vermilion's wings with surprising agility, before Vermilion took to the wing, one parting comment just audible.

_"You've really got to stop doing that."_ The dragon said as he circled out of the arena and out of sight.

* * *

On the other side of the continent, Inferno snapped awake with a jolt.

"Inferno?"

He sat up and turned until he could see Breeze silhouetted by one of the moons.

"Yeah, another crazy dream." He admitted, standing and stretching, before padding over to where she was perched on a rock looking out at the still night.

He briefly explained what he'd seen and heard.

"Vermilion, huh." Breeze said curiously. "Do you think that was a memory?" She asked.

"I…don't think so." He said. "The moons…they looked to be the same as they are right now." He added, nodding to the night sky framed by the cave mouth. "The strange part is, I've never seen any of those landmarks in my life." He added.

"You wouldn't want to." Breeze said grimly. "You just described Queen Scarlet's arena and her Prison in the Sky." She added by way of explanation.

"But this Vermilion, you know him?" Inferno prompted. "Is he a friend of yours? Could he help us?" He asked.

"He's Scarlet's eldest son." She replied. "And I sincerely doubt it. He's something of a coward and he wouldn't dare cross his mother, which while it isn't advisable in normal circumstances, in his case probably would be quite literally, a death sentence." She added.

"So there's nothing we can do about this?" Inferno asked trying not to sound too hopeful.

Breeze shook her head.

"It's just too dangerous. Too much chance of being caught or killed." She replied.

Inferno sighed.

"I thought so." He admitted. "I just…it felt like- I don't know. The name the scavenger mentioned? 'Incandiasa'? It sounds familiar." He said. "I can't place it, but I swear I've heard it somewhere before."

"Really?" Breeze said, then hummed quietly to herself as she thought. "I'll see if I can't find any news on her when we head north." She promised. "Anything that keeps us away from the IceWing's damnable Wall. The archive is on our side of it, but that thing gives me the creeps. And not just because there're reliable accounts of that thing firing ice-spears at anyone who isn't an IceWing trying to fly over it."

"What?" Inferno asked in disbelief.

"Some ancient animus dragon made it ages and ages ago." Breeze replied. "Not sure how things were at the time, but if the IceWings want to stay behind their wall in their frozen wasteland now, that's fine by me. I've never met one that didn't act like someone had rammed one of their precious icicles up their tails." She admitted.

"Real charmers, I take it?" Inferno asked.

"To hear them tell it, it's a utopia where everyone's perfect and there's perfect harmony." She replied. "If I believed that, I'd believe there's an animus somewhere in this mountain and I'd currently be-" She stopped cold. "Nevermind." She said. "Suffice to say, I wouldn't be here right now." She said more quietly.

"What's wrong?" Inferno asked curiously.

"Nothing you need worry about." Breeze replied. "If it becomes relevant, I'll tell you and Gull, but really, I'd just prefer not to talk about it." She said.

Inferno hesitated, tempted to press for an answer to sate his curiosity, but ultimately nodded.

"How long until the next watch?" He asked instead.

"Still a while yet." Breeze replied. "You might as well rest up." She added. "My treat."

Inferno nodded and began to retreat to his previous spot, but paused at the base of the rock.

"Can we head off tomorrow?" He asked. "I don't see much sense in putting off leaving after that." He added.

"I'm considering it." Breeze assured him. "No one seems to be around, so it's not like it'll be any great loss."

Inferno nodded again as he curled up.

"Thank you." He said, before he closed his eyes and tried to drift off to sleep again, while he turned the vision over and over in his mind.

**A talking scavenger?**

**What?**

**All in good time, though if it hasn't been obvious up to now, this story is basically a continuation of a previous story of mine called **_**Guardsman**_**, which has undergone a switch from what Spyro originally crossed with in it.**

**I'm trying to make it so that **_**Guardsman**_** isn't required reading, especially since at about the three quarter mark it went a little bit crazy with canon characters from the setting that wasn't Spyro and went into something of a nosedive for it.**

**So, that dirty confession out of the way, onto the special mentions:**

**Thank you to:**

**The Friendly Space Marine for soundboarding ideas.**

**theuone, MinecraftZerneas and GryphonBuscus for reviewing.**

**See you all next time.**


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter XII

The Darkling Hour

**Disclaimer: See Chapter One.**

Breaking into a dragon's dungeon to steal a haunted sword probably wasn't the brightest thing Vance had ever done.

Then again, his memory was a shambles, and that weapon was one of a scattered handful of things he could remember.

It was a lead, and one that could be useful in a tight spot, not to mention in getting close to the red one that had been dragged in the previous afternoon talking about 'Dark Masters' and 'Dragon Realms.'

It was the day after the mystery dragon had been brought in with a number of guards that seemed like complete overkill.

He'd have retrieved the blade the previous night, but there'd been a lot of nocturnal traffic through the palace, so he'd refrained from it, mostly on Vermillion's advice.

The Queen's son seemed more concerned about his welfare from a selfish perspective than anything else, but Vance wasn't in the mood to be pondering that.

Stealthy as a shadow, he slipped across the dragon-sized corridor and pressed close to the wall, pausing behind a pillar supporting a truly massive bust to survey what lay ahead and behind him:

The hall behind him was deserted and ahead, a sleepy guard nodding at their post barred the entrance to the top level of the dungeon.

There hadn't really been opportunity to study the watch rotation or how it actually worked, so Vance was working under two assumptions:

That the current guard would be relieved by their replacement when the watch changed. If that wasn't the case, he'd take it, but he wasn't expecting it.

The other assumption he was working under was that the change of watch wasn't far off.

Likely, he wasn't going to get a better chance.

This in mind, he continued hugging the wall, creeping as close as he dared to the door before slipping around the corner under the nodding guard's field of vision and continued into the dimly lit chamber beyond.

The low fire burning in a hearth opposite made threatening shadows of the massive spears the guards used and the iron cages holding the rag-clad savages the dragons called scavengers.

An apt term in Vance's view, considering they looked the part.

The sword he was looking for was easy enough to find, the glint of the golden hilt painting the shadowy roof with rippling waves of light from atop a rough stone slab pulling duty as a bench fully twice Vance's height in the middle of the room.

He paused in the corridor and surveyed the room again.

The last thing he wanted to do was walk in and find the prison's jailor had a work ethic that probably held him in a place of favour.

When he was satisfied there weren't any torturers with an unhealthy love of their job, he crossed the room as quickly and quietly as he could, before clambering the bench thankful for the numerous handholds its rough-cut nature provided.

With a growing smile of satisfaction, he picked up the sword and buckled it to his waist before he drew it.

Almost immediately the blade whipped around as if it were trying to kill him, forcing Vance to side step the weapon.

"No love lost, Rigal?" He asked quietly.

"There was none to begin with." The ghostly apparition of the man formed beside him as Vance sheathed the sword and began climbing back down the bench. "You don't remember anything, do you?" He asked.

"Broken fragments… nothing before I encountered Incandiasa, besides the nature of my weapons, insofar as they were explained and the fact I'm a soldier." He added as he strode towards the entrance to the dungeons again.

"I remember, but you have no reason to know all of it. You have no history before then, now. So far as history is concerned, you never existed." Rigal said as Vance skirted the inattentive sentry and began creeping back through the darkened palace to Vermilion's cave. "And if you remember your service, you would do well to conduct yourself as such." Rigal added.

"Then keep your secrets." Vance replied. "I just need to fill in the gaps and Incandiasa should be able to do that." He added quietly, and was about to continue in the vain that he would do that, but stopped as he heard claws clicking on the polished stone, before he ducked behind a tapestry.

A sleepy looking sentry rounded the corner and looked around, before heading off again on her patrol route.

When she had reached a safe distance, Vance left his hiding place and rounded the corner the sentry had come from and had just enough time to get the impression of a dragon waiting for him before what felt like the entire mountain fell on his head and knocked him out cold.

* * *

Incandiasa had spent nights in rather unpleasant places before: Swamps, battlefields, even spent a few months in frozen tundra after Cynder broke the back of the armies resisting the Dark Master's forces.

She was wishing she was back in that freezing cold cave now. It might've been uncomfortable, but at least she hadn't been at the mercy of an overbearing narcissist.

"All this trouble, failing to defend your rightful queen, brawling with my soldiers, resisting arrest…all that for the sake of a pet scavenger?" Queen Scarlet said, shaking her head in wonder. "Some people have the strangest notions; What could be so thrilling about a scavenger anyway?" She asked.

Incandiasa sighed patiently.

"Let's pretend for a moment I'm not delusional and what I've told you is true." She said. "That 'scavenger' saved my life. Twice. Fighting foes that can kill full-grown dragons." She added. "He took a shine to me and frankly, spending the rest of my life in a frozen hole wasn't something I particularly wanted, so I figured we'd go and kill Apes." She shrugged. "Didn't expect it to turn into what it did or wind up here, but there you go."

"You can certainly tell a thrilling story." Scarlet said, laying down on a cushioned dais and looking to where Incandiasa sat on a woven rug, still mostly restrained by the wires she'd been bound with on arrival by Gyrfalcon's men. "But it hardly excuses your blatant lack of respect." She added pointedly.

"So where does that leave us?" Incandiasa asked patiently.

"I'm half tempted to see you fight in my arena tomorrow." Scarlet said, examining her talons as she did. "Make you fight for your freedom in penance for your misdeeds." She added.

Incandiasa huffed in amusement.

"Bring it on. A straight fight sounds like fun after the last couple of days." She said, unable to contain the nasty smile that broke out on her face.

"But, given our little chat last night, I rather thought I might try and strike a bargain with you." She continued as if Incandiasa hadn't interrupted, though the flare of irritation and almost indulgent amusement in her eyes gave the lie to that thought.

By this point, Incandiasa was privately fantasising about trying to break her restraints with a Fury and then taking Scarlet on in a straight up brawl.

The only things stopping her, were the facts the wire binding her was surprisingly flexible and that it was also heat resistant. Not that there'd been a good opportunity to test just how heat resistant, considering she'd been chained on top of a rock pillar to three other dragons and surrounded by at least fifty of them similarly confined as her.

That wasn't to mention the sleeping dragonet draped over a low marble tree and tied by a flimsy silver chain at her neck. The shockwave likely wouldn't spare her if she did attempt a Fury.

This left only one course of action:

"A bargain?" Incandiasa asked skeptically.

"Indeed." Scarlet replied as talons on the stone floor announced the appearance of another SkyWing, bearing a small sack in his talons. "Hawk." Scarlet said. "Any difficulty?" She asked.

"It wasn't with Vermilion." Hawk said with a shrug. "Found it wandering the corridors. Must've slipped past the sentry, because it had the sword." He added as he dumped the sack's contents onto the floor.

As the crumpled scavenger within flopped to the floor with a low and familiar groan, Incandiasa sat bolt upright and looked between it, the clearly indifferent Hawk and Scarlet, who looked like she was enjoying the situation far too much.

She didn't hear what Scarlet said to Hawk as he was dismissed as she stood and crossed to the scavenger as it picked itself up and shook itself.

Then it turned around and Incandiasa stopped cold, before swinging around to Scarlet.

"Explain." She said.

At that moment, Vance regained his senses enough to look around and immediately drew his sword and laspistol as he saw Hawk and Scarlet.

"My other son hasn't been able to shut up about his new pet scavenger." Scarlet explained dismissively. "I didn't particularly care until you described this one as a perfect match for it." She added looking at where Incandiasa stood protectively between Scarlet and Vance while the latter kept his eye on Hawk. "You may go, Hawk." She said.

Hawk nodded, before turning and leaving.

No one said anything until the sound of his claws clicking on the ground died away.

"No teary reunion?" Scarlet asked. "I'm disappointed, I really am."

"I've been in this place long enough to know you're an evil humoured piece of work." Vance shot back. "I think we'll save the reunion for when you're not just as likely to turn around and kill us for your amusement."

"Vermilion didn't mention his new pet could speak." Scarlet said, perking up. "I'm sure we could have a thrilling conversation, the three of us." She added.

"You ordered me killed by proxy just yesterday." Vance pointed out. "I can't blame you for wanting those degenerates you call scavengers dead, but since your guards won't make distinctions, I'm not going to either."

"My offer, Incandiasa, is simple: I'll give you your scavenger back and my pardon. And I'll even give you leave to travel where you will within my lands." Scarlet said, ignoring the glare Vance was shooting her. "All I require of you, is for you to deal with a small problem that's come up in the last few years." She added, leaving the inspection of her talons go to fix Incandiasa with a frank look.

"What sort of problem?" Incandiasa asked. "No way you're making an offer that good unless the favour is borderline suicidal."

"One of my Generals, Maelstrom, has been plotting with one of my cousins to produce an heir to my throne." Scarlet replied. "I only found out after I heard his daughter crippled one of his wings and fled from a match with my cousin's son." She explained. "Maelstrom commands my forces arrayed against Blaze and Queen Glacier." She added. "He's currently in his camp protected by a battalion of hand-picked soldiers who're loyal to him. Traitors the lot of them by the accounts of my spies."

"You want me to kill him." Incandiasa said flatly.

"Bring me his head and you'll have your scavenger back, my pardon and my leave to go and do as you please, free of the interference of my soldiers, provided you're not seen with any undesirables, like the Talons of Peace or their ilk." Scarlet rattled off.

"And what's-"

"What's to keep you from killing him while I'm away?" Incandiasa asked, cutting Vance off smoothly. "I want Vance alive and unharmed." She said. _Looks like I need to play her game and play it better than she does._ She thought to herself.

Scarlet chuckled.

"Oh, I like you." She said with a wolfish grin. "I can't guarantee your pet's safety, but Vermilion is at least somewhat capable of looking after his pets and he's finally learning to watch them properly and to be somewhat discrete." She added by way of reply. "Besides, does he carry those toys show?" She asked.

Incandiasa was silent.

"I guess I'd better hurry then." She replied. "You've got yourself a deal. One traitor general's head for my freedom and Vance alive and unharmed." She said.

**I honestly had no idea what I wanted for this chapter and then I got my hands on Escaping Peril.**

**I don't especially like Peril as a character, I'm in the camp that would've preferred dealing with Carnelian.**

**However, Escaping Peril does give us some insight into Scarlet's character and coupled with her previous appearances in the Jade Mountain books, it seems she likes making deals and getting other people to do her dirty work for her.**

**Anyway, to the following people:**

**MinecraftZerneas, thedoodlinghunter and Hideout Writer.**

**Thank you for reviewing and I apologise to everyone who leaves reviews to show their support and enjoyment especially for the lack of updates. I won't bore you with the reasons (excuses), it just boils down to I wasn't in the mood to.**

**As a sidenote, I've been getting a lot of Favourite Author and 'x is following you' e-mails over the past few months. To everyone who's added me to those sorts of list, thank you, it's nice to know you like my writing in general and don't be afraid to drop reviews, I don't bite.**

**So, on to writing Chapter 13: Where the hell do I go from here?**

**See you all next time.**


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter XIII

Run to Ground

**Disclaimer: See Chapter One.**

The delay to aid Queen Scarlet in apprehending the Talons of Peace hiding underneath the mountains had paid off.

Gyrfalcon had a full squadron under his command now and had received fresh news just a few hours old of two SkyWings and a SeaWing flying north from the edge of the jungle into Queen Moorhen's territory.

That in mind, Gyrfalcon had set his command to sweep around the Diamond Spray Delta and by now, word would have spread about the considerable price on Breeze and her fellow's capture.

They were welcome to run, but there was nowhere to hide.

* * *

"Let's_ never _go back there again." Inferno said with a shudder. The jungle had been pretty, but the humidity and the constant noise of the insects and Ancestors knew what else had put him in a bad mood about an hour in.

And then there'd been the feeling of being watched as they'd gotten deeper.

They hadn't seen anyone or anything, but given the forest was supposed to be the home of RainWings like Glory, that didn't put Inferno at ease. It just made him twitchier, because it meant whoever was following them was a lot better at being stealthy than they were.

"We spend our winters there whenever we can." Gull replied. "It's nice, not having to worry about the war, swimming in untainted water. There's food everywhere if you don't mind fruit." He sighed. "Shame winter is months away yet."

"Let's just focus on living that long." Breeze said.

She'd been grim since they'd left the rainforest and had seemed withdrawn before that.

Inferno put it down to being back in territory where they'd be likely to run across more SkyWings, meaning they'd have to be more circumspect in how they travelled. Gull would be considered an enemy agent here and he and Breeze likely traitors for associating with him.

Hence why they were flying so low:

They were looking for a likely place to hide and wait for nightfall when they could fly more freely without running the risk of being seen.

"Oh, talons and teeth." Breeze swore, pulling up short.

Inferno and Gull paused as well, the former looking at her curiously.

"What?" He asked.

"We've been reported already." She said, nodding to the northern horizon, over which three wings of dragons could be seen flying their way. "We need to go. Now." She said, turning to the east, only to see another wing closing from there.

"Back into the jungle?" Gull suggested.

"We'd be too hemmed in, they'd catch us and have us severely outnumbered." She replied, turning to the west, though with resignation, as if she wasn't surprised to see another wing closing from that quarter as well.

"We break their line then?" Inferno asked. "Do we have a chance of outrunning them?"

"We're going to have to. Then make a break for the sea and throw ourselves on the SeaWings' mercy." Gull said reluctantly.

Without further discussion, the trio turned back eastward and set off, staying low and angling for a gap in the closing squadron's line.

* * *

Encarael cast her eye around the horizon, checking the spacing of the squadron once again and assuring herself the wing was closing apace with the rest of the squadron.

Upon their return to the palace and making their report, she'd been promoted on the weight of Gyrfalcon's report.

He'd been given the soldiers he'd asked for and a mandate to bring the traitors in.

When they'd received word of the trio emerging from the rainforest heading northward, Gyrfalcon had split the squadron into smaller wings and he'd named her as one of the leaders.

She couldn't fathom why. She might have gotten them out of their initial encounter with the renegades, but that didn't warrant this newfound trust…did it?

She shook her head and went back to watching the other squadrons and looking for their quarry.

The glitter of crimson and navy scales coming her way betrayed their presence and she paused in midair to paint the sky with fire.

The chase was now on.

* * *

"We've been spotted." Gull said.

"We've got maybe ten minutes before we're completely surrounded." Breeze estimated. "Pick up the pace. If we can't break their line before they close in, we're done for."

So saying, she put on a surge of speed barrelling forward at an impressive speed, Gull close behind and suddenly, it was all Inferno could do to keep pace, even taking advantage of the pairs' wake.

A glance around revealed that yes, the other wings were indeed closing in, the gaps tightening.

They were rising as well, stealth no longer being as much of a concern as it had been.

An uncomfortable, prickly feeling brewed in Inferno's gut as they closed on the east most arm of the squadron.

_What'll happen if we don't make it? _He wondered. _Can we even fight this many dragons? Is surrender-_ He stopped himself. Surrender wasn't an option.

Not with the way Gyrfalcon had acted with Breeze. Not when he'd so dismissively spoken of throwing them into a gladiator arena to die.

The thought of an arena brought to mind other distressing thoughts, which he tried to ignore in favour of flying.

The prickling sensation started tying knots.

* * *

Gyrfalcon had to fight back a savage grin as his squadron closed in a ring around Breeze and her lackeys.

Typhus was the one he wanted dead, the SeaWing not far behind for Jasper's death, but Breeze was the leader. The instigator. He captured her, the other two would fall in line.

"Signal North and East Wings to close in." He ordered. "West is to maintain spacing and slow to patrol speed in case they break through and the rest of us have to reform." He continued curtly and watched as his signaller paused in his flight to relay the orders.

There would be no escape for Breeze and her companions this day, but there would be no mistakes either.

* * *

"Ancestors blast it all!" Breeze growled in frustration as the line tightened further. "Take out the group dead ahead and keep flying. Inferno!" She called, dropping back to flank him. "Shock them." She said.

Inferno didn't need to be told twice.

He waited until they were closer, then exhaled a crackling ball of corposant at the four dragons directly ahead of them, the energy hitting the lead dragon square in the chest, eliciting a scream as the electricity arced and spat as it searched for new targets to earth to.

The wing scattered, startled shouts and swearing reaching Inferno's ears as they powered through the break, Inferno turning to spit another trio of electric bolts to sow more confusion.

Not waiting to see the effect, he straightened out and continued after Breeze and Gull.

"Keep doing that and we might just get out of this." Breeze said, glancing back at Inferno.

Inferno grinned, but it was sobering seeing nearly two dozen SkyWings on their tails.

That was when he was tackled from above and wrapped in a bear hug.

His attacker pinned his wings and forelegs to his sides, then dove.

The ground rose up with dizzying swiftness, and before he knew it, his attacker spun him around and hurled him into it, the impact knocking him senseless and leaving him floundering trying to regain his feet.

Before he managed it, he felt the impact of other dragons landing and before he knew it, he'd been dragged to his feet and trussed by pearlescent wire to two other dragons.

He tried to struggle when a SkyWing tried to fix a muzzle over his head, only to receive a blow to the head that stunned him.

"Hello again, Typhus."

Gyrfalcon loomed into view, the look of malice in his eyes made all the more menacing by the scars their previous encounter had left.

"You should feel honoured." He said conversationally. "Her Majesty doesn't usually send whole squadrons to apprehend miscreants like the three of you, but then she simply had to meet the stranger who could so easily dispatch and maim her soldiers."

He turned to where Gull and Breeze were similarly trussed.

"Gyr… please…" Breeze said, her fear obvious.

"No need to be so apprehensive Breeze," Gyrfalcon said pleasantly. "Queen Scarlet doesn't blame you for your father's scheming. She might even be willing to pardon you." He added.

"Please…" She begged. "At least let Gull alone…"

"Ah yes, your SeaWing friend…" Gyrfalcon strode to where Gull was trussed and doing his best impression of a statue and punched him in the gills, causing him to collapse in a coughing fit.

"That's for Jasper." Another punch followed the remark.

Inferno tuned out the beating Gyrfalcon gave Gull and Breeze's begging for mercy on his behalf.

Before long, Gyrfalcon stepped away from Gull's slumped form, supported mainly by the wires that tethered him to his guards.

Inferno just made out the rise of his flanks before Gyrfalcon was before him again and the first blow fell, talons raking along his face before a balled fist caught him in the throat, making him gasp for air.

Dimly, Inferno was glad of his guards.

They blocked Gyrfalcon's access to his sides and underbelly, minimising the amount of damage the enraged SkyWing could inflict.

Finally, through a haze of pain, he heard Gyrfalcon say something.

He only caught a few words:

"…Gale and Zeph-"

Then he turned and addressed the assembled SkyWings and with a sickening lurch, they were airborne again.

**High time to move this on to Act II. Just got a chapter or two more of groundwork to lay first.**

**I've now finished Escaping Peril and over all, my impression is: Holy Shit.**

**Not just the cliffhanger ending, but Chameleon and his throwaway line about scavengers as well. There'd be fun to be had if anyone took that to its natural conclusion.**

**Now, thanks this time around go to:**

**MCZ, Hideout Writer and zero fullbuster.**

**Thanks for dropping in and saying hi.**

**Now, if you could just leave some feedback on the story and not just my ramblings at the end, that'd make me the happiest man alive.**

**See you next time.**


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter XIV

The Assassin

**Disclaimer: See Chapter One.**

Incandiasa had left the morning after her midnight meeting with Queen Scarlet, receiving directions to Maelstrom's camp and a message that Incandiasa surmised read 'kill the bearer.'

She had no intention of just flying into the camp, even if it was just an easy day's flight there.

She'd flown most of the way, but when she estimated she was a few hours flight out, she'd landed and proceeded through the mountains on foot.

It was slow going and the terrain was rough enough to force her into the air in places, but by nightfall she could see the camp.

It was still a good two hours' flight away and would likely take her all night to get to on foot.

She decided to take some time to study the camp and rest.

The sooner she was in, the sooner she could kill Maelstrom and be on her way back to Vance, but at the same time, she'd be more likely to get that far with some idea of how the camp worked.

It didn't take much to deduce where pickets were posted, mostly because several of them had set small fires to fight the chill coming off the water visible under the three moons further to the north.

There seemed to be a fairly regular pattern, judging by the positioning of the fires and if one assumed there were more disciplined sentries in the dark in some of the gaps in the picket line.

She'd just turned her attention to the camp itself when a dragon the colour of the night sky entered the cave.

They were still for all of two seconds, then the stranger sprang forward, just as Incandiasa scrambled to the side and to her feet.

The stranger's pounce brought him down on Incandiasa's tail and after giving a yowl of pain, she reared up and turned as the stranger tried to climb onto her back, locking claws with him, before wreathing her claws in fire as she felt the stab of something sharp and metal pricking the sensitive hide between her claws.

The stranger opened his mouth and Incandiasa slammed her head into his snout, making him recoil and release her on reflex, taking a step back and releasing her tail, which Incandiasa took as an opportunity to ram her assailant onto his back, before dropping in a pile driver into his underbelly, making him jerk, then try and curl in on himself as Incandiasa stood again, before grabbing him by the throat and twisting his head around at a precarious angle until his neck threatened to snap.

As pins went, it was an improvisation at best and Terrador would've shaken his head in askance at it, but at that moment, it made her aggressor go still and that was enough for her.

"Who are you?" She growled.

No answer.

Incandiasa twisted the stranger's head a little more, making him whimper.

"Tell me, or I'll snap your neck and use your corpse to get me into that camp." She threatened.

"Why-?" He choked out.

"I'm asking the questions here." Incandiasa hissed. "Now who are you?"

"Deathbringer." Gasped the stranger.

"And what pray tell are you up to?" She asked.

"My job." He replied.

"And what might that be?" Incandiasa asked sweetly.

"Got told to kill someone." He said shortly.

"Who?" Incandiasa asked.

"You'll just kill me if I say." Deathbringer ground out.

"Try me." Incandiasa replied.

"What are _you _doing here?" Countered Deathbringer, giving a grunt as he tried to loosen the pressure on his throat.

"Trying to kill someone to save a friend's life." Incandiasa replied.

Deathbringer was silent a moment.

"Who?" He asked.

"A General Maelstrom." Incandiasa replied. "Who were you sent to kill?" She asked.

"Same dragon, funnily enough." Deathbringer replied with an awkward and very strained chuckle.

"So we have the same purpose." Incandiasa mused. "What's to stop you killing me if I let you go?" She questioned.

"What's to stop you killing me once you know what you want to?" Deathbringer replied.

Incandiasa was silent.

"We want the same dragon dead and that place is basically a fortress. Things will go smoother if we work together." Deathbringer continued with a very reasonable tone.

"So, a truce?" Incandiasa said.

"A truce." Deathbringer agreed.

Incandiasa released his neck and hopped back to give herself some room in case he tried something.

Deathbringer rolled to his feet with a groan and arched his neck as he tried to work the kinks out.

"That didn't half hurt." He said reproachfully.

"What is it with everyone here attacking strangers on sight?" Incandiasa asked rhetorically, but her irritation made her sound about as waspish as she felt.

"The land is at war." Deathbringer said with a shrug.

"I've been attacked by SkyWings whom I supposedly look like as well." Incandiasa replied.

"Queen Scarlet is a narcissistic bitch." Deathbringer said. "You're right though, it is very bad manners whichever way you slice it."

"Be that as it may, how do you propose we kill Maelstrom then?" She asked.

"I've arranged a distraction." Deathbringer said cryptically. "I was actually coming here to wait for it to begin." He added. "I didn't expect to find a charmingly fiery SkyWing such as yourself hiding here though." He added inclining his head.

"Fire dragon." She corrected. "I don't get everyone's obsession with wings either."

"Ah, that would explain what you did to my claws," he said, stretching his talons.

Incandiasa snorted.

"Whatever you had pricked mine." She replied.

"Are you just going to keep sniping until my distraction arrives?" He asked.

"It passes the time." She said with a shrug.

"You're not wrong, but I can think of better things to do." He replied.

"Not interested." Incandiasa said. "If only for the fact you attacked me on sight, no matter your reasons."

Deathbringer sighed in defeat and lay back down, resting his head on his talons.

"You know, you've caused quite a stir. A dragon who wields fire as if it were magic…" He shook his head. "There're a lot of dragons talking about you." He added.

"They stay out of my way and I won't bother them." She said with a shrug. "I've got my own fight to get back to."

"Care to share?" Deathbringer asked, glancing at her sideways.

"Not really. So far the only dragon I've told had me arrested and then sent me on this assassination for her." She said.

"I might get sent to kill you in future if you're perceived as a threat." Deathbringer said. "I could allay any fears you're here to ruin things." He added hastily.

Incandiasa gave him a long look.

"How long is your distraction going to take to get here?" She asked.

"It doesn't matter when, just that it does. And it will. The bait I left was convincing." He added cryptically.

"How long?" Incandiasa repeated less patiently.

"An hour or two if I don't miss my guess." He amended as he realised deflecting wasn't a good idea.

"You know what? Fine. I'll tell you." Incandiasa said, settling down on the opposite side of the cave to Deathbringer. "You won't believe me anyway." She added.

**Trying to figure out how to do this was tricky, but then I remembered: Deathbringer. He'd have a plan, then the only thing to do was write him into this.**

**Of course, he couldn't just shut up after he met Incandiasa. He's almost as bad as Ezio when it comes to hitting on women, at least my version of him.**

**So, this is going to take a bit longer than I anticipated…**

**Well, that's the writing process I guess.**

**Thank you to Hideout Writer and MCZ for reviewing.**

**To everyone lurking and reading this silently, I hope you're enjoying things so far and it'd be great to hear your thoughts on the story, even occasionally.**

**So, in the meantime, I strongly suggest reading this story with _'Draconian Love'_ by Avantasia playing in the background. It's basically a soundtrack for this story.**

'**til next time.**


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter XV

The Ties That Bind.

**Disclaimer: See Chapter One.**

Inferno collapsed as his guards set him down on a stone pillar looking down on an arena he recognised as the one from his dream about the scavenger and the Queen's son.

He'd even seen the creature itself, eyeing every dragon in the room with unguarded suspicion hand on the golden hilt of a weapon sheathed at its side.

In between its survey of the court of Queen Scarlet, it had stared at him with unsettling intensity. After the savage beating Gyrfalcon had given him, he could have been imagining it, but he could have sworn he'd felt a cold certainty settle over him.

Maybe it had something to do with Scarlet sentencing him to die in her arena the following day.

He pushed himself to his feet and looked around the circle of pillars, trying to pick Gull and Breeze from the dozens of other dragons imprisoned like himself.

He did a double take as he recognised the SeaWing to his right.

"Tsunami?" He said, wincing at the effort talking cost.

She whipped around startled and after a moment, recognition flashed across her face.

"Inferno? What're you doing here?" She asked, incredulous.

"Got into a disagreement with some of the Queen's soldiers. Killed a couple of them. Their commander wasn't impressed." He said. "I'm for the arena tomorrow."

Tsunami lashed her tail.

"Webs told us you were dead." She said.

"Why do you care?" He asked. "For all I know I was in Scarlet's army before Webs found me."

"You stood up to Kestrel." She said with a shrug. "You gave us a second chance after a bad first impression."

"That's hardly a firm foundation to judge character by." He said, wincing as he chuckled.

He glanced around again.

The wind howled over the wire cables binding the prisoners together and his left hand neighbour,-an IceWing currently asleep,-didn't appear to hear. The guards certainly wouldn't either.

"None of us have met many other dragons." She said. "And besides, you're kind of cute." She admitted, ducking her head at the admission.

"Thanks… I guess…" Inferno said, non-plussed. "Shouldn't you be thinking of a way to escape rather than check me out?" He asked.

"I can't think of anything besides try and fight and that's impossible trussed up like we are." She replied. "I managed to get my wing free yesterday trying to get down and help Clay, but they've tightened my chains since then." She said bitterly, stretching her bound wings for emphasis.

Inferno tried to unfurl his experimentally, clenching his jaw as he felt the effort translate to an uncomfortable pull at the elbow of his wing and his shoulder.

"How'd you manage to slip this?" He asked.

"I dislocated my wing before we were captured. Clay popped it back in, but there was enough give in it for me to slip out of the clasp." She replied. "You have any ideas?" She asked.

"If we get put against each other tomorrow, you break my bindings and I'll break yours." He replied. "Other than that, if you get put against a SeaWing called Gull or a SkyWing called Breeze, tell them you're a friend of Inferno. Maybe they've got an escape plan." He added with optimism he didn't really feel.

"You think we'd stand a chance?" Tsunami asked with a sad smile.

"Maybe." Inferno replied. "The odds are probably one in a million, but it could work. So long as a few things happened in a particular way." He added.

"Such as?" Tsunami asked.

"We get pitted against each other." Inferno said. "You and Glory were the only two to beat me in one on one fights. We both got loose and you focused on breaking chains, I could maybe keep the guards off us." He said. "Don't know how long for, but we could give them a fight to remember before they kill us." He said with bitter humour.

Tsunami huffed in amusement.

"We'd need Clay." She said thoughtfully. "Scarlet is keeping Glory as some sort of living sculpture and Starflight is over to the left about half way around…" She said thoughtfully. "If you can find where your new friends are, maybe we could get out." She mused. "We'd need to find Sunny first though." She added.

"You don't know where she is?" Inferno asked.

Tsunami shook her head.

"No, she was taken the same as Glory when Clay, Starflight and I were brought here." She said. "I hope she's okay…" Her wings drooped.

Inferno's front legs gave out and he stumbled to the ground with a grunt.

"Are you okay?" Tsunami asked.

"I'll live." He said with a touch of irony. "The SkyWing commander who brought us in, Gyrfalcon… he beat me and Gull half to death before he brought us here." He explained. "I'm just glad he put guards on us beforehand, so he couldn't get at our wings or under us."

Tsunami shook her head.

"Are you scared?" She asked quietly.

"Terrified." Inferno confirmed as quietly as he could over the wind.

"How are you being so calm?" Tsunami asked as if she were looking for guidance.

Inferno thought about it as he tried to get comfortable.

"I'm sore all over and I don't want the guards to know how close to breaking I am." He said eventually. "Having someone even vaguely familiar to talk to helps." He added with a small smile.

Tsunami returned his smile as she sat down herself.

"The guards will feed us soon." She said. "Best pretend we don't know each other, or they'll move one or the other of us."

Inferno nodded fractionally as his eyes began to drift close.

* * *

Vance grinned at the little ball of fire he held in the middle of his palm.

The part of the bench he stood on was rimed with frost and his memories,-while still fragmented and confused, were no longer as murky and nebulous as they had been.

He'd felt something missing ever since he'd woken up and had to fight a pack of scavengers for what he could retrieve of his gear before Vermillion had 'rescued' him.

That feeling had dissipated over the course of the afternoon just gone and the dragon responsible was currently chained up in Queen Scarlet's Sky Prison.

"I need to fight the SkyWing with the tattoos tomorrow." He announced.

Vermillion looked up sharply from the missive from Scarlet he was reading.

"What?" He asked, as though he thought he was hearing things.

"I need to fight the SkyWing with the eagle tattooed on his wings that was hauled in with those mercenaries this afternoon." Vance said seriously. "I don't know how, but there's some sort of connection between me and him." He said. "I haven't been able to summon fire since I got here. Then he shows up, and now look." He added, proffering the tiny orb of flame for Vermillion's inspection.

"You're an Animus?" Vermillion asked in alarm. "Put that out before someone sees you." He hissed, standing. "Anyone born with dangerous powers like that is killed for the good of the kingdom; Well, usually." He amended uncomfortably.

Vance let the flame fade.

"No, not an Animus." He replied. "I possess a rare power, but it revolves around the manipulation of elemental forces: The earth, fire, lightning, ice, that sort of thing." He explained. "At least, I hope it still does." He added after a moment's thought. "Anyway, ever since that 'Typhus' was brought in, I've felt my powers return." He said, giddy excitement welling up and making him grin for the first time since he'd landed in the foothills of the mountains. "My memories are starting to come back as well." He added, sobering.

Those last few moments in Convexity were something he could've done without remembering.

"You don't sound happy about it." Vermillion noted.

"You wouldn't be either." Vance replied. "There're gaps… Gaps I'm certain have to do with the events that lead to Incandiasa and myself being thrown here." He said reluctantly. "I'd rather not talk about it." He added, looking out to the setting sun.

"You sure?" Vermillion asked.

"It was… not pleasant." He said. "It involved the worst sort of pain you can imagine and I feel violated even remembering." He added, his hand going to the hilt of his sword unconsciously, his fingers running around the edge of the basket hilt. "Trust me, you'll sleep better not knowing."

"And what about you?" Vermillion asked.

Vance shrugged with a mirthless chuckle.

"I'll just have to deal with it. I wanted my memory back. I got it." He said. "Be careful what you wish for indeed."

He turned from watching the sunset to look at Vermillion.

"Any ideas on how I can fight Typhus tomorrow?" He asked.

Vermillion shook his head.

"Can I at least come and watch?" He asked. "I don't really need to fight him, just get close."

"Why do you need to get close to an animal like him?" Vermillion asked. "He lashed out and killed one of Captain Gyrfalcon's soldiers with no provocation and scarred him into the bargain."

"I want to test a theory." Vance replied. "It ties into what happened right before I wound up here, but the details aren't clear. I was in too much pain to recall what happened exactly; Which is probably a good thing, but it means I'm going to need to figure this out the old fashioned way." He explained.

Vermillion shook his head again, turning back to his scroll.

"It might be kinder to put you in the arena." He said reluctantly. "Queen Burn is arriving tomorrow for Queen Scarlet's hatchday celebrations. She doesn't like scavengers." He added.

"You did mention her mother was killed by one." Vance replied. "I'll stick close to you then. The moment Incandiasa shows up, I'm gone though. Scarlet's set her up. We're going to need to make a fast exit."

Vermillion seemed to deflate at this.

"Must you go?" He asked. "It's nice having someone to talk with like this, without having to mind what I say." He added plaintively.

"I'd rather throw myself into danger with Incandiasa than live a comfortable life in fear of what happens the moment you take your eyes off of me and my attention slips for just a second." Vance said honestly. "I followed her into hell. Literally." He added. "Thanks for letting me stay here and watching my back, but your mother scares me on a fundamental level and well, Incandiasa and I have a history." He said.

"I gathered as much. Do you want to at least share that?" Vermillion asked.

"It ties into her story about the Dark Master and the dragon realms and I don't remember what happened before we crossed paths." Vance warned.

"I'm talking with a scavenger." Vermillion pointed out. "Consider me coming into this with an open mind." He said simply, lighting a brazier by the door for light.

"Alright." Vance said, taking a seat on a pile of maps on Vermillion's desk.

"Far back as my memory goes is when we met…" He began, launching into the tale as Vermillion put aside his mother's missive and listened with rapt attention.

**We're getting closer to the close of this act.**

**I've had this plotted out for a while and it's great to see this almost writing itself, even if there is a lot of dialogue to this chapter.**

**Hopefully the next chapter will make up for it.**

**I just hope I can do the scenes I've got in my head justice on the page.**

**I'd like to thank Hideout Writer and MCZ for their reviews.**

'**til next time, I'll be doing Chapter 16.**


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter XVI

Midnight Madness

**Disclaimer: See Chapter One.**

The first inkling Incandiasa got that Deathbringer's distraction had arrived was a colossal explosion.

This was followed closely by roars of outrage and pain from the camp and the sky suddenly being full of wildly flapping wings as an all-out brawl broke out.

"I was beginning to wonder how long they'd wait." Deathbringer said, standing.

"You lured someone into attacking the camp." Incandiasa said.

"Yes. We slip in using the confusion as a distraction, kill Maelstrom, then we go our separate ways." He added.

He'd been silent during her story and after clarifying a few points, he'd remained that way, lost in thought.

Incandiasa was still curious as to his opinion, but she chided herself.

Now was neither the time, nor the place. And she really shouldn't care what the shameless flirt thought about her past anyway.

"Then I'll follow you." She said, motioning to the battle outside.

Deathbringer grinned and launched himself into the night, Incandiasa following close behind.

They broke the cover of the mountains within five minutes of taking off and keeping low to the ground, covered the distance to the camp in another ten. During that time, the fight showed no sign of abating.

Incandiasa marked dragons with nasty looking barb-tipped tails fighting on both sides of the fight, while SkyWings grappled with blue-white dragons similar to the one who'd attacked her soon after she'd arrived.

Deathbringer landed running, an easy lope that carried him into the heart of the chaos and Incandiasa followed, figuring if Deathbringer thought he'd be inconspicuous, she wouldn't stand out beyond being another potential target for the force attacking the camp.

They made it to the heart of the camp without undue incident, Incandiasa getting into the odd scuffle with the attackers, and either being bailed out by the garrison, or Deathbringer leaping from whatever shadow he was hiding in at that moment with a dagger as long as Rigal's sword which she had no idea where he'd found.

When she arrived at the central clearing of the camp, it didn't take much effort to find General Maelstrom:

He was one of the largest dragons Incandiasa had ever seen, rivalling Terrador, but where he'd accrued scars, he wasn't as maimed as the General:

One of his wings had been shredded beyond repair and he wore an eye-patch over a ruined eye, the scar that had caused the gruesome injury not quite hidden by the small patch of leather.

He was bellowing orders, tail twitching restlessly, as though he longed to be up there fighting alongside his soldiers.

A sentiment his half-dozen bodyguards seemed to share.

"Get his attention." Deathbringer suggested from the shadow of a burning watchtower.

Incandiasa didn't reply, instead coming out from behind the burning structure herself and bounding toward the group of SkyWings.

"Urgent message from the Queen, sir." She called, dropping into a short bow as her call garnered the attention of the General and his bodyguards.

"It can wait until after we've sent these cowards back where they came from." The General replied curtly. "What's your name soldier?" He asked.

That was when Deathbringer appeared behind him, a knife in each paw, descending from wherever he'd launched himself like an angel of death.

His knives bit deep into the General's neck and he roared in pain, his guards turning to see the assassin on their master's back.

That was Incandiasa's opportunity:

She charged forward, wreathed in flame and slammed shoulder first into one of the guards and stole his spear as he howled in pain.

As Deathbringer opened Maelstrom's throat in a cascade of blood, Incandiasa scattered his guards with a combination of her fire and strikes with her stolen weapon.

It'd been more than a year since she'd last picked up a weapon.

The last time had been at the battle that Cynder had routed the Guardians and those who'd stood with them.

So to say she was out of practice would be putting it mildly.

It didn't matter though, because even out of practice as she was, between the shock of Deathbringer's attack, the chaos of the battle and her own surprise attack, she managed to keep them at bay long enough for Deathbringer to leap from Maelstrom's back into the melee, his knives flashing, leaving the guards howling in pain as he crippled them with fluid, graceful strikes.

With one last deft cut, he severed Maelstrom's spine and quickly tied his head up in a scrap of canvas.

"Alright, now we leave." He said, dashing back towards the border of the camp. "Keep up, this won't work if you don't." He added over his shoulder as Incandiasa belatedly started loping after him, using the leather strap on the spear to stow it across her back.

A SkyWing crashed into the ground ahead of them wrestling with one of the sandy gold dragons.

Deathbringer leaped around them as though this was something he did on a regular basis.

Incandiasa simply leaped into the air and glided after him, coming down in that same easy lope.

Another SkyWing called out to her "You there! Stop!" And got in her way as though to bar her path.

She slammed through him like she had Maelstrom's guards and kept after Deathbringer.

One of the ice dragons loomed out of the darkness above her, jaws open to spray her with his frost breath, forcing her to bound to the side before continuing her run.

"This is insane!" She hissed as she charged through a burning tent and out the other side to see Deathbringer disappearing into the shadows ahead.

Finally, they were clear of the camp and taking to the wing, speeding back into the mountains.

Incandiasa looked back to check they weren't being followed and once satisfied the battle still had everyone's full attention, focused on following the silhouette of Deathbringer.

They landed in the rustle of wings and Deathbringer grinned a feral smile, his teeth silver white in the darkness.

"You really are something spectacular." He said approvingly. "I've never seen another dragon move like you did back there." He added.

"Sweet talker." Incandiasa shot back. "I'm out of practice. Terrador had've seen that and he would've had me practicing from the ground up for a month." She added.

Deathbringer chuckled lightly.

"Sounds familiar." He said. "Well, it's been fun. Wouldn't mind working with you again if it comes to it." He added. "Unless you want to postpone the departure?" He asked sweetly.

"Don't push it." Incandiasa said, though without malice. The young assassin was incorrigible.

"Then farewell, my lady, and may you deliver unto Queen Scarlet what she has coming to her when she stabs you in the back." Deathbringer said with a theatrical little bow, then he vanished into the darkness as he took to the wing again.

Incandiasa snorted.

"I'll stab her first if I get the opportunity." She said to the night at large, before taking off herself and angling southward.

_Let's put some distance between here and us._ She thought, holding Maelstrom's head to her side as she flew. _Let's see if we can't make it back to the Queen tonight and do this exchange in private where she can't publicly set me up. _She added to herself, increasing her tempo.

* * *

It was early in the morning when one of her chamber guards awoke Queen Scarlet.

"What?" She growled. Whatever had disturbed her rest had better be important.

"The one you sent to deal with Maelstrom has returned." The guard said stoically from where she knelt in a graceful bow, seemingly unfazed by Scarlet's displeasure.

"Imprison her for the arena tomorrow for her failure." Scarlet said, laying back down.

"She succeeded, your majesty, unless it's someone else's head in the sack she brought back." The guard replied, sounding vaguely impressed.

Scarlet sat back up, feeling mildly impressed herself. She'd seriously underestimated Incandiasa if she'd come back from a suicide mission like killing Maelstrom.

Part of her wanted to reaffirm her initial reaction, but another, shrewder part of her decided against it.

"See she is given a room and fed." She said instead. "If she insists on having her precious scavenger back at this unholy hour, get Vermillion to deal with it." She added. "In fact, just send him to deal with her." She amended. "Now go, leave me to rest." She added, settling back down as the guard bowed again with a quiet "my lady," before leaving.

As she drifted off to sleep, Scarlet began turning the possibilities Incandiasa presented over in her head.

A small, cruel smile grew on her snout as she drifted off to sleep, her dreams dominated by the fiercely independent dragoness driving Scarlet's enemies before her.

**Not sure how I feel about this chapter.**

**The alternative to what just happened to the dear General was an impromptu duel between him and Incandiasa, but I settled on Deathbringer getting his little moment of glory and being an assassin rather than the lost puppy that follows Glory around in the books.  
**

**Thank you to Hideout Writer and MCZ for reviewing.**

'**til next time.**


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter XVII

The Clouds Gather

**Disclaimer: See Chapter One.**

"Kind of sad this is the best early morning wake up I've ever had." Vance reflected before suppressing a huge yawn. "And good to see Scarlet hasn't thrown you in prison for treason yet." He added to Incandiasa, stretching until a rippling pop could be heard from his back.

"Thanks for taking care of Vance." Incandiasa said to Vermillion.

_Shame about his mother._ She thought as she examined him critically.

His wings were almost overdeveloped like most SkyWings she'd seen, but he was still handsome.

"Nice to have his company." Vermillion replied with a trace of irony at Incandiasa's statement. "I suppose you're going to leave now?" He asked, sounding resigned.

"Depends what sort of quarters the Queen has lined up." Incandiasa said with a shrug. "Her whims are worth braving for a decent bed." She added.

"Queen Burn arrives tomorrow with her escort, but I'm sure we can find somewhere that won't offend anyone's sensibilities." He said, motioning towards the quarters for the guards.

"So long as it's got a comfortable bed, it could be a poky hole in the wall for all I care." Incandiasa replied. "Flying out to that camp and flying back is going to have me out like a light." She replied.

"If that's what suits you." Vermillion replied, pausing outside a cave opposite his own. "This cave is currently unoccupied. It used to belong to a dignitary of the court before he offended the Queen and received a posting with Queen Moorhen's forces in the south east." He explained, lighting the brazier to reveal a comfortable looking cave, not all that different to Vermillion's own.

Incandiasa stepped inside sniffing the air, before she pressed the padded leather cushion off to one side that would serve as a bed.

"It's musty, but I'll take it." She replied, arranging herself on the cushion with evident enthusiasm. "Remind me to thank her majesty in the morning before we leave." She said, eyes already closed.

Vance glanced up at Vermillion.

"Thanks again." He said.

"You're quite welcome." He said resignedly. "I take it you don't plan on returning?" He asked hopefully.

"Not if we can help it." Incandiasa replied. "Courtly intrigue really doesn't suit me and I can't in all honesty say I like your mother." She said. "Respect her power and confidence, certainly, but I can't say I like her." She explained.

Vermillion squirmed uncomfortably.

"Please, not so loud." He begged.

"Sorry." Incandiasa said.

"If that's all, I suppose I'll see you in the morning." He said.

"Maybe. Night." Incandiasa said sleepily.

With one last regretful look at Vance, Vermillion returned to his own cave.

With a sigh, Vance crossed to Incandiasa, scaled the cushion and lay down against her side, letting her drape her wing over him.

"It's good to see you again." He said quietly.

"Same with you." She replied. "I thought you were dead, what with what happened before." She added.

"Yeah." Vance replied. "Not all here though. I've got gaps in my memories and my powers only just came back to a small degree." He added.

"That'll sort itself out when we're travelling." Incandiasa reassured.

"My powers came back this afternoon when one of Scarlet's officers hauled in a trio of mercenaries for murder." Vance replied. "One of them, 'Typhus,' was sentenced to die in that arena you've probably seen by now." He explained. "He has a tattoo across his wings. A tattoo like the one on my back." He added.

Incandiasa cracked open an eye and looked at Vance sceptically.

"You're not going to let me sleep without getting whatever this is about off your chest, are you?" She asked reproachfully.

"I think this Typhus has my missing memories." Vance said. "Moreover, I think he's got my powers as well. I hadn't felt anything emotion wise basically until he was brought in. Maybe vague senses, but besides that, nothing." He added. "Then he's brought in and I felt terror and pain. Which is strange only in that I hadn't up until he showed up and I've been here a week and I haven't felt anything."

"What are you up to?" Incandiasa asked, an edge in her voice.

"I need to get close to him. Take back what he has of mine somehow. I don't know how he got what he has, but I want it back." Vance replied.

"What do you intend to do?" Incandiasa asked suspiciously.

"My first instinct is to fight him." Vance admitted honestly.

"You do remember what happened the last time you tried to fight a dragon, right?" Incandiasa asked rhetorically.

"If memory serves, we fought her to a standstill and she stalled us so she could open a gate to hell to try and summon the Dark Master." Vance replied.

"And look how well that ended." Incandiasa replied patiently.

"So what do you suggest? I get used to living without half my soul as an emotionless drone?" Vance asked.

Incandiasa was silent.

"First sign of trouble, I'm getting you out." She said firmly. "I don't care about the consequences, I'm not losing you again." She added.

Vance grinned crookedly.

"Love you too." He said.

Incandiasa chuckled at that.

"I lost all faith when Cynder destroyed us." She said quietly.

Vance met her eye, but stayed silent at her confession.

"When you found me in the mountains, I was waiting for the Dark Master's release and the apocalypse that followed. I didn't think I could make a difference, so I ran and I hid to spend whatever time I had left free." She continued, seemingly lost in her memories. "I was a coward. That wasn't living." She said, leaning down to brush Vance's brow with her nose. "You gave me a purpose. You reminded me why I chose to fight Malefor's return to begin with."

"I was just looking for a fight." Vance admitted. "I didn't see myself living very long, so I figured I might as well take some of the evil in the world with me when I went." His smile took a turn for the grim as he met Incandiasa's emerald eyes. "I still don't see myself living very long, but I'm glad I'm doing that living alongside you." He added, tracing her jaw with his fingers.

"Ancestors, we're the worst." She said with a snort of amusement. "Listen to us, if we were any soppier, there'd be a dragonfly chorus in the corner and we'd be caught in a shower of roses in a moonbeam." She joked.

Vance chuckled in turn, then they fell silent.

"See you in the morning." He said at last. "And thanks for being there for me while I do something incredibly stupid." He added.

"What're friends for?" Incandiasa asked rhetorically.

* * *

Inferno awoke with a start, jerking violently enough for his wires to sway hard enough to disturb the IceWing to his left, who grunted and coiled tighter and caused Tsunami to stir as well.

He'd roused enough to eat the dead rabbit the guards had thrown at him earlier, but it hadn't been nearly enough.

He didn't know how he'd achieved a deep enough sleep to dream, but it had been telling.

The dragon from his dreams, Incandiasa, was here, right now, probably no more than a few hundred metres distant.

What he had overheard in the dream, the scavenger's plan to challenge him, their conversation, vaguely half understood, was almost irrelevant.

The dragon who could give him answers was almost within his reach. So close, yet for all that he might as well have been on the opposite side of the continent considering his imprisonment.

"Bad dream?" Tsunami asked quietly over the wind.

"Something like that." He replied. "More like a vision. Nothing I can do about it here."

"A vision?" Tsunami asked, cocking her head.

"A SkyWing. Talking with a scavenger I saw standing with the Queen's Herald when she sentenced us." He explained. "The scavenger was talking back."

"No way. Scavengers can't talk." Tsunami said, shaking her head. "How does that constitute a bad dream?" She asked and even in the dim light the moon's provided, Inferno could see her smirk.

"The scavenger is planning to fight me tomorrow." Inferno admitted. "I should be able to beat it easy, but…I just get this feeling…like, I don't know, but it didn't sound scared of the prospect of fighting a dragon. Not even daunted. It…sounded like it was looking forward to it."

"How hard did that SkyWing hit you in the head?" Tsunami asked.

"I'm not delusional!" Inferno hissed in frustration. "This isn't the first time I've had a dream like that." He admitted.

Tsunami sighed and curled back up.

"You'll be fine." She said. "If you do wind up fighting with a scavenger with a death-wish tomorrow, then maybe I'll believe you." She added. "And if you do, you'll be fine. They're tiny. And completely unarmed and armoured."

"And one of them killed a dragon Queen." Inferno noted. "I'm not going to take any chances, no matter what I fight."

"Just so long as you remember to break the rest of us out." She said, already falling back to sleep.

Inferno sat there, staring at the sands below for long minutes until he was able to curl up and fall into a restless sleep.

* * *

He was dreaming again.

He stood again in the Chronicler's ruined arena, on a field of obsidian and standing not far distant was the scavenger with a sword flickering with lightning.

It stared at him dispassionately, dissecting him with a look, measuring.

"_You brought this upon yourself." _The voice wasn't that of the Chronicler, but sounded equally as ancient, if colder. More metallic. _"From the moment you learned of your gift, you fought it."_

"_As he should."_ This voice belonged to another scavenger, standing at the first's side, though seemed a lot more tenuous, as though it wasn't there, really.

"_And in doing so he has forced this."_ The first voice said.

"_Who are you?"_ Inferno called.

"_The question is, who are _you_?" _The voice replied. _"I was torn from my rest by your turmoil and the darkness it almost unleashed." _It rumbled with all the crackling menace of a storm.

"_So what happens now?"_ The scavenger asked, still staring at Inferno with those solemn brown eyes.

"_You will clash. Whether you wish to or not. You will pay your debt to me-"_

"_Frak off. I'm not falling for that again."_ The scavenger said.

"_-And you will decide your fate."_ The voice finished as though the scavenger hadn't spoken. _"There is no escaping this. And you have no one to blame but yourself."_

The scavenger nodded.

"_Nothing personal."_ It said with a shrug.

"_Who are you?" _Inferno shouted. He was so lost. He had no idea what was happening, or why and then what was this dream?

"_Don't you remember?"_ The scavenger asked. _"I envy you if you don't."_ It said.

"_NO!" _Inferno roared. _"I don't remember. I've got no idea what you're talking about. What have I fought? What did I do to deserve any of this? Who are you?! WHO AM I?!"_

The scavenger stood there, uncowed.

"_I was wrong then."_ It said. _"You don't have my lost memories."_

"_How could I?"_ Spat Inferno._ "When I don't even have my own?"_

"_You don't have my memories."_ The scavenger replied. _"You have my passion. My emotions. I kept my will and my determination."_

"_I don't even know you!"_ Inferno screamed, tears of rage gathering in his eyes, springing at the scavenger, but it was gone when he landed.

"_You will."_ The scavenger said. _"One way or another."_ It added.

A cry tore Inferno from his sleep and he looked down to see a SkyWing of around his own age hovering over the broken body of an older SkyWing with heat streaming off her scales, while behind her Kestral was chained to three large boulders while under heavy guard, and the Queen's herald stood in his usual place by Scarlet's podium and the Queen herself loomed over the distraught young dragon and the broken body.

He silently damned them all. Just a few more moments and maybe he'd have gotten some answers.

_All I can do now is wait._ He thought, his heart giving a painfully hard beat in his chest as a sick, queasy feeling gripped him.

**If this chapter seemed cryptic, then that would be because I'm making trying to make readers think about what's going on. The feedback I got from the last chapter was that people still didn't know what was going on and no one ventured any theories as to what they thought was happening.**

**Well, I listened.**

**One chapter full of build-up and exposition.**

**Next chapter, I'm going to try and make the pay-off worth the wait.**

**So, thank you to MCZ, Grey Noise and Hideout Writer for reviewing.**

**See you next time.**


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter XVIII

First Blood

**Disclaimer: See Chapter One.**

Vance looked to the two SkyWings flanking him.

They were eyeing him doubtfully, as if they were debating trying to eat him as they waited for Vermillion to announce the fight.

Queen Scarlet had been almost alarmingly enthusiastic about the prospect of fighting Typhus when Incandiasa had raised the possibility of his fighting the renegade.

Likely because she thought that Vance would wind up dead by the end of the fight.

It was a possibility, but if Vance's dream the previous night was any indication, he was going to be fighting an opponent verging on terrified and already deeply confused.

He wasn't quite as concerned. Not with Incandiasa waiting for the instant things went wrong to intervene.

He quietly tapped the hilt of his sword as the minutes ticked by while the coliseum filled.

"Shouldn't be long now." He said idly, watching as his minders shifted uncomfortably.

* * *

Inferno kneaded the platform beneath him as a trio of guards circled overhead, waiting for the signal to drop him into the arena.

He tried to ignore Tsunami's doubtful look as his tail twitched back and forth with the tension.

He wanted to say something to break the tension, but with the guards hovering, what was there to say?

Finally, the guards swooped in and pinned him as he was unshackled.

He caught Tsunami's eyes before the guards took off.

Then he looked away as the futility of his situation settled on him once more.

He was carried down to the arena and dropped just above the sandy arena floor.

The fetid scent of decay and the iron stink of blood tainted the air.

Coupled with the cacophonous roar of the crowd of SkyWings watching on, Inferno suddenly felt even smaller and even more vulnerable.

"Today, we have a gauntlet match," The speaker was a handsome-ish SkyWing wearing a red sash around his shoulders. He didn't seem terribly interested in Inferno, instead peering at the cave mouth below the outcropping he was addressing the crowd from.

Behind him lounged Queen Scarlet, looking at him with unsettling intensity.

"The traitor Typhus stands charged with treason and sentenced to die in the arena." The Herald continued. "Release the Scavenger!" The last was spoken almost reluctantly.

A puzzled tittering went through the rows of assembled dragons as the diminutive creature from Inferno's dream strode out of the cave the herald had been glancing at.

It strode forth ungoaded and unhurriedly, the sword shining silver in its hand, glinting with deceptive innocence as the scavenger spun it in lazy arcs as it approached.

Inferno started circling left, closing the distance on his side cautiously, the apprehension in his gut telling him that the scavenger was more of a threat than it appeared.

As they drew closer, Inferno locked eyes with it.

It met his gaze steadily, seemingly with no fear, just an unwavering confidence that was almost unnerving.

The moment hung in the air, then Inferno lunged forward.

* * *

Vance rolled under Typhus's lunge and took the opening to score a shallow wound along the young dragon's foreleg.

That was all he had time for before a follow up backhand strike sent him sprawling.

He tasted blood from biting his tongue and spat as he stood, facing the look of desperate terror in his opponent's eyes impassively as he watched for an opening.

Suddenly, the dragon reared back and sent a rippling sheet of fire at him, which Vance rolled away from, coming up with his laspistol, putting three rounds into Typhus's side, before he was forced to roll under another lunge, retaliating by opening a slash along his flank, before ducking under another back hand strike, leaving a third mark on his chest.

He took a breath and had to stop himself from wondering as he saw it fogging the air.

It was cold. On a sunny day, even high in the mountains as they were, it shouldn't be this cold.

The sand was being coated in a spiderweb of rime, even as he looked.

The moment of inattention was almost the end of Vance as Typhus sprang again, clamping his jaws around Vance's leg, only for Vance to ignite the sword's power field and leave a long scar down his face, making him rear back roaring at the unexpected pain.

Vance stood again, this time keeping one eye on his opponent as he watched with mounting dread as the arena slowly froze, his nose filled with the stink of ozone, and the sands began to be interspersed with once-parched black rock, now slick with dragon blood.

"Oh, frak me." He muttered, before charging in at Typhus again, determined to finish him before things got any worse.

**I... have no idea which way I'm going to go with this next part.**

**No matter how it goes, I hope people at least enjoy the writing.**

**Thank you to Hideout Writer MCZ and Grey Noise for reviewing the last chapter and apologies to anyone who lost interest in the intervening time.**

**I still haven't nailed down the specifics of how this is going to end, so don't be surprised if there's another hiatus, but there is a plan.**

**I just figured I'd better at least get the ball rolling.**


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter IXX

To Be Renewed

**Disclaimer: See Chapter One.**

As the air got colder and the guttural cheers of the watching SkyWings gradually grew more akin to abyssal howling and the ground became harder and more treacherous for being slick with blood, Vance spun away from Typhus and got out of range of any attack he might care to make as he assessed the new development.

"No, no, no!" He shouted as the surrounds took on eerie familiarity:

Unnatural, omni-present light that hurt the eyes and turned the stomach, parched rock -now pooled with dragon blood- hanging over an abyss tinted with unreal and unnatural colours with strange creatures cavorting across the hellish tableau.

* * *

"Oh, that's not good…" Incandiasa muttered to herself as a ripple of muttering ran through the audience.

Vance and Typhus had just paused and were obviously looking around as the arena was rimed with ice and the thunderstorm tang of ozone filled the air.

"What is this?" Scarlet asked, turning to Incandiasa suspiciously.

Scarlet had invited,-insisted, really,-that Incandiasa sit with her for the match after she'd raised the possibility of Vance fighting Typhus.

An arrangement Incandiasa hadn't been pleased with, but had agreed to for the sake of remaining out of Scarlet's bad books.

Now she was questioning the wisdom of that decision.

"I don't know _exactly…_" Incandiasa replied. "But, it's likely got something to do with why Vance wanted to fight that one." She added. "Which I'm beginning to think was more of a mistake than if he'd simply been outmatched." She added grimly, flexing her wings.

"And why exactly would that be?" Scarlet asked coolly.

"Because the last time something like this happened, we both nearly died." Incandiasa replied seriously.

* * *

"What's happening…?" Breathed Inferno, a chill washing down his spine that had nothing to do with the temperature.

"You'll wish I'd killed you if we don't stop this." The human said grimly.

"No. I'm not dying. I refuse to die for the amusement of that mad creature calling itself Queen." Inferno hissed.

The human looked around at the hellish panorama again, then leveled its sword at him.

"Give me what you took from me, and I walk away. You can fight your way out and I can get on with finding a way home.

Funny how he thought of the Dragon Realms as home over wherever he'd actually came from now.

"I don't know what you want or anything about this!" Inferno hissed again, this time in frustration.

"_Only one of you may leave this place."_

With a rush of wind as loud as a thunderclap, a gold and midnight dragon came to land on the stone platform, looming large over both Inferno and Vance.

"Well you can fly back into the abyss then." Vance retorted. "I've come too far and too close, only to fall and be tricked at the last hurdle."

"_And I see, you haven't perceived the truth of this._" The dragon said with a shake of his ponderous head.

Vance carefully took a step back to crane his head up to look the dragon in the eyes.

He must've been at least four times Vance's height at the shoulder, meaning it was a long way to look, especially with a virtually crippled leg.

"And what might that be?" Vance replied. "Enough riddles. Speak plainly, if your intentions are honest."

The dragon's eyes narrowed dangerously.

Then it tilted its head and with a twitch of its wing a dome of lightning covered the platform and by extension the arena.

"_The living need not concern themselves here."_ The dragon said.

"Who are you?" Inferno said, taking advantage of the brief pause to ask the question. "Are you the Chronicler?"

The dragon shook his head as he settled himself.

"_No. I knew him in life, and failed in my duty alongside him. I am Itzalid, called Stormcaller." _He replied. "_Your creation tore my spirit from my slumber as it tore you in twain. As the Purple Dragon's fury tore the darkness from Malefor's slave, so it did you."_

"'Tore me in twain?'" Vance repeated. "Then what the hell has he got to do with anything?" He demanded, once again levelling his sword at Inferno.

"_That should be obvious. You remember what happened. Even if you wish you didn't." _Itzalid said.

"_Did you not question what happened to the changes inflicted on you?" _He asked rhetorically. "_You were changed into a ruined mockery of our kind_;_ you took knowledge of our arts and with it, memories of our Ancestors and our strength to heal otherwise fatal wounds."_

Itzalid leaned down until his head loomed over Vance and glared.

"_Purple Dragons can reshape the world. Here, where the rules are warped, their powers are unmatched. The young one provided a catalyst. The gifts you stole did the rest. You are one and the same torn between two forms."_

He jabbed a talon at Vance.

"_Cold discipline and fearless skill."_

He turned his gaze on Inferno.

"_Power and passion. Innocence and fear." _He regarded them both with fathomless golden eyes. _"You both know this to be true."_

Vance was silent as he looked to his sword as beside him the spectre of Rigal materialised.

"I will not return to being a degenerate, half-breed abomination." He said.

Faster than the eye could track, Itzalid struck out with his tail and sent Rigal's sword spinning through the air and out of his dome of lightning.

* * *

With a surprised gasp, Incandiasa leapt back to avoid being impaled as Vance's sword came flying out of the crackling energy barrier over the arena to land point down in the rock.

"Oh no…" She whispered, a thrill of horror washing through her. "Please, no…"

* * *

Back under the dome, Vance stood dumbly flexing his suddenly numb hand.

"_No, but you wish to be whole again." _Itzalid said. "_Only you can do that."_

"How?" Inferno asked.

"_The same way I managed to find you here." _Itzalid replied. _"But instead of striking in anger, let your power merge."_

"And I suppose we can trust you to just sit there and not try and seize control of us while we're doing so." Vance stated, summoning his fire, only for it to flare as fierce and hot as a star.

"_I am but a ghost. An echo torn from my rest. Of what power I have, possession is not one of them, hatchling." _Itzalid assured. "_If it sets your mind at ease, I swear upon my honour as a Guardian of Lightning that I have not misled you and will not interfere."_

Vance was silent for a long moment, before looking to Inferno.

"Can this really be happening?" He wondered, doubt entering his mind.

"Do we have a choice?" Inferno countered, feeling a certainty he hadn't since he'd awoken to find Kestral glaring at him settle over him.

Taking a shaky breath Inferno exhaled and fire coalesced in the air before him.

Hesitantly, Vance fed fire into the growing conflagration himself and found himself looking at himself through Inferno's eyes and felt his fears and worries.

The gaps in his memories began to fill and he felt the fire roar with newfound strength.

The fire between himself and Inferno grew and his perception continued to bleed.

He stood head and shoulders over a human while his leg threatened to buckle and half a dozen injuries sang their complaints.

He worried about Breeze and Tsunami and Incandiasa. He wondered if he would ever see the Temple again if he managed to escape.

A realisation dawned on Vance as the fire enveloped himself and Inferno:

He was the one being consumed.

With a grim snarl, he dug in his heels and tried to pull the fire back.

Everything faded to dark orange flame and dull warmth.

He was human, his past forgotten, but with a stalwart ally and friend in Incandiasa.

He was a dragon, his past a mystery now answered and his future uncertain and now threatened.

He was Inferno...

He was Vance-

He was both, but something greater.

As his mind and soul remade themselves, he felt the cracks fill.

As his mind and body settled and Inferno's and Vance's perspectives faded into one, they both roared defiance.

**There's not much to say here.**

**I've been busy with uni and after being stuck on the choice of which way to go with this for all of since last update, I've finally made a decision.**

**Hopefully the next update will come more quickly than this one.**

**In the meantime, I'd like to thank everyone who has followed or favourited either me or this story and in particular:**

**MCZ, Hideout Writer and Molly for reviewing.**

**Right.**

'**til next time.**


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter XX

Reunions.

**Disclaimer: See Chapter One.**

Incandiasa wasn't ashamed to admit when the lightning barrier faded to be replaced by a Fury and a roar that made the rock below her vibrate, she jumped in fright before dropping her weight and preparing for a fight.

It was heartening to see Scarlet actually reel back at the deafening noise.

Then the fire cleared as echoes of that deafening roar continued to ring in the air, sullenly fading as the rest of the arena's occupants, who'd been similarly startled to Incandiasa and Scarlet relaxed fractionally as well.

And there, standing alone on a patch of still-hot glass, was Typhus.

Incandiasa tensed to spring, before she noticed something:

He looked different.

His horns had been shorter when he'd been dropped into the arena and they hadn't been black as lacquered ebony.

He stood, examining himself with no apparent regard for his surroundings and carried himself taller, as though the fear he'd so clearly felt mere moments previously had been put to rest.

He'd gained mass and a few inches at the shoulder, though the difference was subtle.

And at his feet was Vance's belt with his sword sheath still attached.

With a shrug, Typhus broke the blackened fetters on his wings.

Having been trussed with them not two days previously, Incandiasa couldn't help but feel mildly impressed:

The fetters had resisted every effort she made to warp, buckle or break them, through either fire or strength.

The flame he'd emerged from must have been intense.

As she watched, he fanned them and there, she felt her eyes go wide as she dimly perceived a familiar tattoo across it, though of a far larger proportion than she'd last seen it, even if it was hard to distinguish from the natural colour of his wing.

Then a trio of guards dropped into the arena and levelled their weapons at him, breaking him from his reverie.

"Well, I really didn't think this one through." He said ruefully, his voice familiar, even though it came out deeper, from a much larger chest and had gained a subtle reverb from the vocal cords now forming it.

"I don't suppose anyone wants to know what just happened?" He asked hopefully, looking from the guards, around the arena and settling on Incandiasa and Queen Scarlet.

Scarlet cast Incandiasa an imperious look.

"I…I _think_ Vance might have taken control of Typhus. Somehow." She said quietly. "I don't know."

She snapped her attention to the dragon now crouched warily under the watch of four spear-wielding guards and another three hovering in the air above him.

She glanced back at Scarlet.

"May I…?" She motioned vaguely to the arena.

Scarlet shook her head.

"I came here to be entertained, not have drama and mystery ruin my afternoon." Scarlet replied sternly, "if you find this so thrilling, you may puzzle it out yourself inform me later." She said, before shifting her attention to her guards.

"Take him to the dungeon."

"And if that somehow is Vance taken over Typhus's body?" Incandiasa asked.

"Then he had better find better manners if he wishes to have any chance of walking free." Scarlet replied, settling herself and waving Vermilion over.

As they spoke, the guards approached Vance warily, before escorting him from the arena and out of sight.

Gingerly, Incandiasa pulled Vance's sword from the rock before gliding down and reclaiming its sheath, before breaking into an easy lope after the guards.

Surprisingly, they didn't take him down the tunnel opposite the entrance to the arena, instead heading into the palace proper, to the now deserted hub of the palace, before the three wielding spears took position around a grate set in the floor, before the grate was opened and Typhus was unceremoniously shoved in by the remaining two guards.

* * *

Vance rolled to his feet as he landed with a grunt, before glaring up at the guards.

"I'm cooperating, damn you!" He shouted up at them.

The guards just laughed as the grate slammed shut and was locked with a very final sounding click.

They then disappeared from view.

"I really didn't think this through." He said to himself shaking his head.

Something slammed into him from behind and sent him sprawling before he came to his feet low to the ground to lay eyes on a SkyWing he recognised.

Not from his memories, but from Inferno's.

"Is this really the time?" He asked in exasperation.

In response, Kestral marched forward until she was looming over him and glared down at him.

"What are you doing here?" She snarled.

"It's a long story. You wouldn't believe me if I told you." Vance countered.

"Try me." Kestral said.

"Alright. Inferno was only half of me." Vance said. "The other, original half was human. My soul was broken in half, one part remaining with the human body and the other creating Inferno." He explained. "Inferno got himself captured after escaping you with a pair of smugglers and the human part of myself got adopted by Vermilion and has spent the past two weeks as his pet here."

He sighed.

"Unbelievable I know, but that's the truth of it. I just went and fought myself and during the fight my soul remade itself. That was the explosion you probably heard." He added.

He looked up at Kestral's militant glare.

"You're right. I don't believe you." Kestral growled, grabbing Vance by the throat and slamming him against the wall.

"Ahem."

The two of them glanced up to see Incandiasa standing above the grate.

"So, that dragon you fought wasn't called Typhus?" She asked.

"Apparently not. It was a false name so Inferno wouldn't have to think of one to mask his… my… our real name."

Vance shook his head.

"Can you let me out of here and we can discuss this later?" He asked.

"Maybe. What's my name?" Incandiasa asked.

"Incandiasa." Vance answered without hesitation.

"You know this runt?" Kestral asked, looking up at Incandiasa herself.

"Maybe." She replied. "If I do, you better let him go, or I'm going to come down there and turn you inside out." She added sweetly.

"So he is lying." Kestral said, tightening her grip on Vance's neck, making him sputter and vainly try and pry her off.

"No actually, just left out some of the crazier parts." Incandiasa replied.

"Who were the guardians at the Temple?" She asked, directing her attention back on Vance.

"Igni…tus, Volteer… and Terrador." Vance choked.

Incandiasa cocked her head, but nodded all the same.

"Correct again. There's a fourth, but you never met him." She said.

"Who were we fighting?"

"Cynder. Her army of Apes. Malefor." Vance ground out as he managed to slightly loosen Kestral's grip.

Incandiasa nodded again.

"I can't wait to hear about this Inferno stuff." She replied with relief. "I thought I'd lost you again." She added.

"The day's still young." He said darkly. "And that harpy isn't going to believe you. Or me." He added.

"Well what do you suggest?" Incandiasa asked, before giving Kestral a significant look.

Grudgingly, Kestral released him and backed off.

"Do you have Rigal?" He asked. "Cut the lock and we can be gone before anyone realises."

He shook his head.

"No, I can't." He said, remembering.

"Why not?" Incandiasa and Kestral asked at the same time.

"Because I can't just leave Gull and Breeze. Or Tsunami and the others." He added with a glance Kestral's way.

"Who?" Incandiasa asked, frowning.

* * *

Gull frantically rolled under the jet of fire sent at him by his opponent:

A SandWing the SkyWing Herald had called Vulture.

He was aggressive, strong and not at all subtle in his fighting style.

He could work with that.

He came to a stop as Vulture closed in.

He was cornered and the bigger dragon's sting-tipped tail was poised to strike, he leapt forward and drove his tail down-

Only to land on sand as Gull side-stepped and seized his tail, before yanking it in opposite directions, earning a howl of pain before Gull silenced him by swinging his tail up into his throat with as much of his bodyweight behind it as he could at such an awkward angle, earning a wet crunch and a wheezing gurgle.

He grimly hung onto Vulture tail as he thrashed, before sending a second strike into the SandWing's head, knocking it sideways at an unnatural angle.

Finally, he fell dead.

Gull backed away wary of any residual spasms, panting.

It had only been a few minutes since Inferno had been escorted from the field after his frankly bizarre duel with the scavenger had ended with another mysterious explosion.

"The next match shall be the traitor Breeze against Gull of the SeaWings!" The Herald announced.

Despite himself, Gull smiled bitterly.

"What's the plan?" He asked quietly as Breeze landed with seemingly languid grace across from him.

"How fast can you pick locks?" She replied, flashing two small pieces of metal hidden in her talons.

"Fast enough. It'll have to look convincing though." He replied. "Where did you get those?" He asked.

"Fight!" The Herald roared over the crowd.

Breeze smirked.

"I've got to have some secrets." She replied dryly, then lunged.

Gull met her and they went tumbling, Breeze pressing the picks into his talons before they separated, before closing again, this time ending in a pin that hid Gull's wings under Breeze. He used the cover to quickly open the lock on his wings, struggling like mad, before bucking and sending Breeze skidding around before she sent fire at him.

He leapt over it and came down on her left wing kicking sand into her face as he quickly worked the small tumblers until they clicked while Breeze thrashed, before she bit his flank and they separated again.

She lunged again and this time Gull met her with a blow to the chest with his tail, before leaping onto her back and biting at her neck.

They thrashed and Breeze 'accidentally' pushed Gull onto her opposite wing and leaned around and bit at his throat, resulting in a frenzied duel as they bit at each other's throats while Gull kept Breeze's wing pinned.

Finally, the lock clicked.

Breeze spun and whipped her tail across Breeze's face.

He recoiled, stunned and released her wing, letting her retreat.

They circled, seemingly looking for another opening while the crowd cheered and bayed for blood in the background.

"She amused?" Breeze asked.

Gull spared a glance up at Scarlet's dais to see her watching imperiously.

"She's watching." He reported. "Now what?" He asked.

"See the glass patch?" Breeze asked. "Smash it. Send it everywhere."

Gull could see the exact patch she meant.

She'd walk in front of it in just a second.

He tensed, arching his tail before jumping and arcing his body down into a summersault, before slamming his tail down as though to smash Breeze into the ground.

There was a crash and Gull yowled as he felt some of the slivers lodge in his tail, but the patch exploded, upward and outward, sending glass everywhere.

The result was utter chaos.

SkyWings reflexively took to the air, or thrashed at the sudden shower and the resulting stinging pain of being cut by fragments.

"Now run!" Breeze hissed, bolting past Gull to the arena's entrance, stealing one of the guard's spears while he shook himself, apparently having caught a face full of glass.

She spun the spear and caught the guard in the throat with the haft as Gull closed with the second guard and dashed his head against the wall, knocking her senseless.

They bolted onward, Gull following Breeze until the came to the palace's main chamber to find the dragon that had been sitting at Scarlet's side speaking to a grate in the floor.

"You." Breeze said. "Where did the guards take that other one?" She demanded.

"Breeze?" A familiar-but-different voice drifted from the grate.

"Inferno?" Breeze asked, relief in her voice as she levelled her spear at the stranger. "Hang on, we'll have you out in a second." She said. "Stand back." She ordered.

The stranger gave her an amused smirk before complying.

Breeze got between her and the grate, letting Gull at the grate's lock.

The sound of Gull industriously picking the lock filled the air.

"We don't have a lot of time…" Breeze reminded.

"This isn't as easy as the wing locks." Gull replied tensely.

Shouted orders could be heard in the distance.

"Look, it's now or never." Inferno called up from below the grate. "Incandiasa, just cut it."

"I would, but your friend doesn't seem to like me very much." The stranger said dryly, as though she found the whole situation amusing.

"This way!" A voice ordered, followed by skittering talons.

"I need more time." Gull said, sounding almost manic over the sound of clicking metal.

"You know her?" Breeze called over her shoulder.

"Long story." Inferno said, his voice echoing out again. "Just, let her take care of it." He added.

Breeze gave the stranger a narrow look, but she stepped aside.

"Gull." She said.

With a frustrated huff, Gull retreated from the lock.

With that same look of amusement, the stranger drew a sword that looked sized for a scavenger.

After a moment, lightning arced along its length and she released it.

Seemingly of its own accord, it drifted over to the lock and with three arcs and three thunder-crack discharges the lock fell into smoking pieces while the sharp tang of ozone filled the air before the sword returned to normal and the stranger sheathed it before with a heave and another deafening crash, two red shapes leapt from the cell beneath.

The first and larger was Kestral, who Breeze was surprised to see, while the second was Inferno, though he looked subtly different.

"Right, now that's done with, let's get moving." The stranger suggested, before bathing the floor and bannisters with fire.

Thick, black, obscuring smoke quickly filled the chamber as the group heeded the suggestion, leaving the guards shouting and blind.

They ran as fast as they could until they reached a wide courtyard meant for patrols to launch and land from.

Without comment, the group launched into the air and began to fly.

Kestral assumed the lead and swooped low, leading the group until they came to a lake shore.

"We don't have long until search parties are organised." Kestral said. "What're you two doing here?" She asked, fixing her gaze on Gull and Breeze.

"We were captured by Gyrfalcon after a prior disagreement." Breeze said. "How'd you get caught?" She asked.

"It's his fault." Kestral said, jabbing a talon at Inferno.

"My fault?" He asked, confused.

"After you escaped, the others decided they'd follow after the Talons decided they wanted the RainWing gone." She explained. "They followed you out and when they came around to open the door out, they lead Scarlet straight to us. Dune is dead because of you." She added, eyes alight with anger.

Inferno bowed his head at the news, then looked up.

"Shame. He seemed like a halfway decent sort." He said. "But be that as it may, what now?" He asked.

"Before that," Breeze said, turning her attention to the stranger. "Who're you?" She asked.

"Incandiasa. And I've been looking for him for nearly a fortnight." She said. "He's a friend of mine. Seems he's made some new ones in the meantime though." She added, looking pointedly at Breeze.

"Look, it's a really long, crazy story and we don't have the time right now." Inferno interjected before Breeze could ask anything. "What's the plan now?" He asked.

"We need to lose the search parties." Kestral stated.

"And after that?" Inferno prompted.

"You're going to help me _fix_ this mess and rescue the others." Kestral said, once again glaring accusingly at Inferno.

"We'd better find a hiding place then." Inferno said.

No one disagreed and once again, Kestral lead the way into the air, before angling to the north-east, flying low.

**I'm not quite sure how I feel about this chapter, what with all the dialogue and the overall atmosphere of this being an escape.**

**The next chapter or two is probably going to be insane, what with how the actual story plays out and the fact that no matter how much she despises them, Kestral would still likely have lead any attempt to rescue the dragonets.**

**But, that's getting ahead.**

**I will say there was another version of this where Vance\Inferno took Scarlet hostage and tried to bargain his way out, but I couldn't make it work with how surrounded and totally outnumbered and outmatched he was.**

**And it was even more dialogue heavy and the pacing really suffered for it.**

**And just a random thought: I'm severely tempted to cameo Priscilla or Yorshka from Dark Souls.**

**Seriously, there needs to be a Wings of Fire\Dark Souls crossover. The fading of the First Flame or the events of the first game would make excellent stand ins for The Scorching.**

**But really, I just want to try writing Priscilla in future or see her crossed over to something else.**

**With that out of the way, as usual thank you to the followers and for the favourites, it's great to know people are enjoying this.**

**And for reviewing, I'd like to thank MCZ and elftron.**

'**til next time.**


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter XXI

The Storm Brews

**Disclaimer: See Chapter One.**

"I assume you have a plan for this little rescue of yours?" Vance asked as the group sat huddled in a small cave.

It had been Incandiasa who lead the group to it, a little crevice in the mountain side that took a blind turn before terminating in a cave just barely large enough for Kestral to squeeze through and cramped enough to necessitate them to assemble themselves in a heap.

It made for a cozy and warm way to hide and spend the night, but it was at odds with the simmering animosity of Kestral and the mutual suspicion of Breeze and Incandiasa.

It wasn't going to do them any favours if they needed to flee quickly either.

"Fly back in the early morning and cut them free with whatever weapon your friend used on the lock to our cell." Kestral replied. "If we're discovered, we fight our way out once we've freed the others."

"Why are you so intent on going back there?" Breeze asked. "I thought you were trying to avoid Scarlet." She added.

"The reason is none of your concern, but the brats I want to rescue are important." Kestral replied.

"You can count me and Gull out then." Breeze replied. "Scarlet's arena is a bad way to go, but we're not risking our necks for total strangers without there being some sort of payoff." She added.

"And yet you shielded Inferno." Kestral countered smoothly.

"We found him after we talked to you and he was passed out from exhaustion. You weren't in the friendliest mood either." Breeze said. "Besides, that did sort of pay off." She added.

"Not really." Gull chimed in from somewhere near the top of the pile. "He's nearly gotten us killed, he's the reason Gyrfalcon hunted us down and he got me and himself beaten half to death." He said.

"It's fine." Vance said before any more points or arguments could be made. "You don't have to come." He added. "This is my mess."

"It's suicide with so many guards hunting us." Incandiasa pointed out. "Just let it go and we'll find our way home. We've got enough trouble without getting wrapped up in this war."

"I can't just leave this go." Vance said, shaking his head. "Scarlet is a blood-crazed maniac, she won't just kill the dragonets, she'll turn it into a spectacle and draw it out for her own amusement."

"Vance-" Incandiasa began.

"No." He said. "The last time you doubted me was the whole reason we're even here."

He felt her knead his back with her claws, clearly uncomfortable.

"So, is it Inferno or is it Vance?" Gull asked as the silence stretched uncomfortably. "And what was that back in the arena?"

"To answer the second, the scavenger was my original body, containing the other half of my soul." Vance said. "To answer the first…" He shook his head as he trailed off.

"What?" Breeze asked.

"It's both." He answered. "I am Vance. A soldier whose memories and history are lost. But I'm also Inferno, a dragon who's found friends and is looking for a purpose."

"So you were a soldier?" Kestral said pointedly.

"I didn't serve Scarlet though." Vance said loftily. "You jumped to that conclusion yourself." He added, earning a warning growl from her.

"Well what do we call you then?" Gull asked.

"I think, for simplicity's sake, you'd best keep calling me Inferno." He said. "I doubt there's a way for me to return to being human, for a start." He added. "Besides, after today, I can decide who I become."

* * *

Sleep was something that came fitfully and unspoken to all of them.

Inferno blinked awake to find himself back in the cave at Jade Mountain.

Vance sat on a rock, cleaning Rigal's sword.

He gave Inferno a searching look as he stood and approached the entrance.

"_He's _around somewhere." He said. "The others as well."

"What?" Inferno asked.

"Itzalid." Vance replied, examining his sword's edge critically. "I knew there'd be a catch to his 'help' and apparently the new body was just part of it."

"What's wrong with my body?" Inferno asked, mildly outraged.

"It's not mine for a start." Vance replied. "Then there's the whole tail thing and don't get me _started_ on the hyper-acute senses."

"_It must be hard to adjust. You humans have such limited eyes and such a dull sense of smell._"

They both looked up to see Itzalid land in the cave mouth, his scales shining like burnished gold in the sun.

Behind him, Kestral, Breeze, Incandiasa and Gull could be seen flying by what looked like doubles of the dragon before them.

"What exactly do you want?" Vance asked.

"_You saw what lies beyond that arena."_

It was a statement.

"It gave me a really bad feeling, seeing Convexity again, but what's it mean?" Vance asked.

"_The veil of the world is thin there. A powerful enough being could break through into this world if they were aware of this weakness." _Itzalid said. "_And I am not the only one who has noticed this blood-soaked land." _He added.

"What does that mean?" Inferno asked. "And what do you want?"

"_You don't remember, but he does." _Itzalid said, inclining his head to Vance. "_And if I must be torn from my slumber, I will be restored to life."_ He said. "_You will see to that, come the morning."_

"I already told you, I'm not falling for this." Vance said.

"_Given what happened in Convexity, you've a right to be suspicious. But no; I've no interest in you." _Itzalid said. "_I have arranged a storm to mask your approach. I shall tell you when to act and guide you in your actions."_ He said.

"Alright but what do you intend to do?" Inferno asked.

"_Many things. The chief of them you need not concern yourself with, for the moment." _Itzalid replied. "_However, my intentions are noble and I will show you how to use your power, if there is time_." He added.

He shook his head.

"_You have reservations. I understand. Convexity is not a realm where things can be trusted. But you must help me. If you do not, the very evil yourself and your companion ventured to this realm to stop will be unleashed upon Pyrrhia. And even under the best of circumstances, these tribes would be ill-equipped to deal with the Betrayer."_

"You mean Malefor." Vance said. "What's he to you?"

"_A lot of things._" Itzalid said, looking away from the duo. "_A former student. A former friend, even._"

He looked back to the pair.

"_But he betrayed myself and my fellow Guardians, hunted us down, tormented and killed us until only the current Chronicler remained to seal him in Convexity. In that, he is also my greatest failure."_

"_I will not see him bring destruction to another world while I sit trapped as a spectre in this twilight realm." _He vowed.

"I'll help." Inferno said, receiving a doubtful look from Vance. "I need help." He added. "And you seem to be the best chance I've got. At least I'm not going to pass out all the time like with the Chronicler."

"_True. As to your first lesson…"_ Itzalid said, gesturing with a wing as a cluster of blue crystals almost as tall as Inferno rose from the stone. "_You were not born a dragon, you became one. You lack knowledge that even hatchlings have. Take heed of the wisdom of the Ancestors, lest you shame yourself." _He said.

Remembering Incandiasa doing so back at the Temple once, Inferno strode forward and struck the crystals, feeling them crack beneath his talons.

He struck again and on the third strike, they shattered, fragments flying into the air before being drawn to him as though by magnetism.

He staggered from vertigo as images, sights, smells, sensations and sounds rushed through him settling into his mind like rain into parched land.

"Gah!" He said, feeling his mind clear and settle, glancing to the rock Vance sat on to see the human fallen to the ground, catatonic.

"_This gift I give in hopes that you will do the right thing."_ Itzalid said. "_Now rise. The dawn is close and you have far to fly."_

* * *

He snapped awake, hearing the others stir about him.

"Did any of you just have the weirdest dream?" He asked.

"Do you mean one where this gold dragon told us to stop a Dark Master from destroying everything?" Breeze enquired.

"You could have mentioned one of the most powerful Guardians ever is the reason you're a dragon now." Incandiasa said accusingly directly afterward.

"I didn't know." Inferno replied. "I thought it was a trick, or my imagination." He added.

"It doesn't matter." Kestral said. "You can discuss that and the implications later." She added. "You can leave or stay as you will. Inferno."

It took some jostling, but he and Kestral managed to extricate themselves from the cave.

Incandiasa pulled herself out as well.

"We'll wait." Breeze said. "We won't fly into certain death, but we'll wait for you. For now."

Inferno nodded.

"You don't have to. Thanks for all your help, but you don't have to stay." He said.

"We've come this far." Gull said with a shrug. "There's got to be some sort of treasure along the way." He added reasonably.

"Probably not." Incandiasa said, shaking her head.

"You need to know who to go to for help and where to hide and we could definitely do with a couple of extra fighters." Breeze replied. "It won't matter if there's treasure or not if we wind up dead before we can do anything about all this."

"Are you coming?" Kestral called, having already made it to the entrance to the crevice.

Inferno glanced back to the entrance, then back to Gull and Breeze.

"Stay safe." He said, before turning and following Kestral, Incandiasa right behind him.

"You're jealous, aren't you?" Gull said quietly as they disappeared around the corner.

"Like you wouldn't believe." Breeze confirmed.

Thunder rumbled overhead in the darkness.

Then the rain began to fall.

* * *

It took some circling, but Inferno eventually picked the pillar he'd been chained to the previous day and swooped down to it, looking to the right, expecting to have to toss a stone to wake Tsunami, only to feel a chill creep down his spine to see her pillar empty.

The silhouette of a dragon on the next pillar was just visible through the rain, while a glance to the left revealed his left hand neighbour, the IceWing looking at him with light green eyes under cracked lids.

"Do you know where the SeaWing was taken?" He asked as quietly as he could over the rain, glancing around to see Incandiasa shaking her head from where Clay had been imprisoned and Kestral looming large from an empty plinth where Tsunami had pointed out Starflight.

"The Queen's guards locked thy friend within the dungeons beneath the arena." The IceWing said in an incongruously childlike voice. "Or perhaps not. Mayhap that's why the Queen's Champion sleeps upon the sand?" She wondered, indicating down below.

Lightning flashed, illuminating the arena and an eerily localised cloud of steam rising from the ground below.

"Maybe." Inferno mused as the lightning faded and the ruddy glow of a fire could be seen spilling onto the sand from the entrance beneath Scarlet's dais.

"What dost thou plan?" The IceWing asked. "Thy friend is beyond thy reach."

He looked around the arena again, catching a gesture from Kestral to move.

Without thinking, he drew his sword and threw it across the gap, hearing it land with a clatter before the IceWing.

She sat up, glancing between Infenro and the sword in confusion as it crackled to life.

"Free her." Inferno commanded Rigal.

Lightning lit the sky once more as Rigal cut the IceWing's bonds.

That done, Rigal leapt the gap back to Inferno, a carefully blank expression was upon his face, a slight sneer revealing his distaste.

"Another one? And when stealth and blending in will be so important to your success here?"

Instead of replying, Inferno sheathed the sword, banishing Rigal's spectre.

"Thou art an Animus?" The IceWing asked, furtively flexing her wings.

"It's a long story. Stay here for now." He added, before diving off his plinth and circling back up into the storm, seeing Incandiasa and Kestral do so as well.

* * *

"They've been moved." He said over the wind as they converged above the arena in the clouds. "Taken into the dungeons apparently, or something like. The Queen's champion is in the arena right now as well." He reported.

"Peril." Kestral all but whispered, peering back at the arena below. "There's no way it's not a trap. Either meant for me or other Talons." She said.

"Maybe I could pose as being captured?" Inferno suggested. "I was next to Tsunami all of last night and my chains haven't been moved. Not many of the guards saw me either. And fewer still are likely to recognise me now." He added.

Kestral chuckled nastily.

"You're mad." She stated.

"I've already made another friend down there." He said. "I think I can impress on her that cutting her bonds means she owes me a favour." He added. "And if you were to hide close by and listen for my signal…"

"Like what?" Incandiasa asked and even in the gloomy pre-dawn light, he could tell she didn't like one word of what he was saying, but couldn't think of any alternative.

"A roar?" He said with a shrug. "There's still the matter of Itzalid. That good enough?" He asked.

The other two fidgeted uncomfortably as they circled, doubtless aware of what he meant.

"You realise what that will entail, right?" Incandiasa replied.

"I can well imagine." Inferno replied grimly.

Kestral shook her head.

"I don't like this." She said.

"You don't like me, either." Inferno replied. "If you have a better idea, I'm listening though." He added.

Kestral sighed.

"Alright." She said. "We'll wait."

They parted, but as Incandiasa pulled away, Kestral paused.

"Inferno." She called.

He paused as he turned back towards the arena.

Her jaw worked for a moment.

"Thank you." She said at last, though it sounded as though there was more she wanted to say.

"I haven't done anything yet." He replied dryly.

Kestral gave the barest of chuckles, then swooped away towards her hiding place.

With a shuddering breath, Inferno dived himself, alighting on his former prison and draping the chains over himself, shivering as the rain continued to fall.

"Thou hast returned." His neighbour observed.

"I have my reasons." He said.

"Forbidden love?" The IceWing guessed.

"No." He replied. "If you promise to help me in return for freeing you, I'll tell you." He said. "Do we have an accord, miss…?" He let the question hang.

"I am Priscilla." She replied. "And we have an accord." She added.

"Pleased to meet you." Inferno replied. "Tell me, have you heard of the Dragonet Prophecy?" He asked.

**Yet another chapter that had an alternate sequence, this time featuring everyone's favourite psychopath confronting her mother. I cut another part with Peril's perspective of Clay pretty much right after she turned them over to Scarlet again for pacing reasons and because it didn't serve anything except the fact Inferno and co had arrived. I might put it back in, I might not. **

**As to the rest, I couldn't think of a way to make it work.**

**I mean, I could've had an all-out assault on the palace, with Peril's assistance, but the dialogue to do it would've felt pretty forced and in some instances would've been copied from the book.**

**So sneaking shenanigans it is.**

**As of writing this, it's pretty early, so who knows. I might come back and change things later.**

**Thank you for reviewing: MCZ and Grey Noise.**

'**til next time.**


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter XXII

The Storm Descends

**Disclaimer: See Chapter One**

Malefor paused.

Events at his old mountain fortress were proceeding apace and Gaul's gambit to lure the younger purple dragon to it had paid off.

Still, something else was calling his attention.

The distinct echo of dying souls and the sweet, ephemeral scent of blood.

To a creature of flesh, it was a warning.

To a creature of Convexity, or the Dark World, it was an olfactory siren song.

The aligning of the moons was still some time away as of yet.

And besides, investigating a potential meal after so long locked away was too tempting to pass up, especially when it would be the work of a mere moment…

* * *

The wait was killing him.

Maybe not literally, but laying beneath such a thin disguise as his broken chains was fraying Inferno's nerves.

He'd been toying with passing Rigal's blade around the arena to free the other captives on the condition of their help, but he'd discarded the idea.

There were too many SkyWings who'd use the information as a bargaining chip and too many more dragons who'd use the opportunity to flee.

He couldn't even try and plan anything with Priscilla. The storm had abated shortly after dawn had broken and now the arena was filling.

He'd had enough time to impress on Priscilla the importance of waiting to follow his lead, but that was dependant on Itzalid's signal and so far the old Guardian had been silent.

And what was worse, Scarlet was below, along with the dragonets-minus Sunny-and a formidable looking SandWing.

"Burn." Priscilla whispered to him when he enquired. "I hope your plan is sound." She added.

"It's…simple." Inferno replied weakly. "Not much chance of anything I _can't_ plan for happening." He added.

_Him. _Itzalid's sudden interjection nearly made Inferno jump but he turned his attention back to the arena to see a gasping and sickly looking SeaWing being dragged in. _His mind is crazed. His body is weakened but it isn't anything that cannot be dealt with._

There was a distant rumble and the wind shifted directions as the clouds began to spiral towards the arena.

_So, now?_ Inferno asked.

_No, in his moment of greatest weakness._ Itzalid replied as Vermilion's voice echoed up, proclaiming the crazed SeaWing to be Gill.

_Blood of Martyrs. _He swore silently, the oath supplied by one of Vance's more fragmented and contextless memories as Vermilion explained the reason for the SeaWing's state:

He'd been deprived of water for inciting rebellion in the prison.

"If we fail, kill me." Priscilla said quietly. "I do not wish to discover what punishment Scarlet would bestow for defying her during her hatchday celebration." She added as the fight began.

The crowd cheered as Tsunami was initially pushed back by Gill, only for Tsunami to gain the upper hand and take control of Gill's thrashing by knocking him flat and getting behind him, before taking him by the horns.

Subtly, Inferno crept forward and nodded to Priscilla as Tsunami begged for her crazed opponent's life, only for the crowd to shout her down.

Over it, Scarlet's own taunt carried clearly:

"Perhaps our 'dragonet of destiny' doesn't have the stomach for battle. Maybe war is _too scary_ for her. Perhaps she'd like to go back into hiding instead?"

Halfway through her pontificating, Inferno dove with a deafening roar that set the valleys ringing with echoes, his signal to Kestral and Incandiasa.

Every head in the stadium looked his way as he swooped into the arena, drawing and throwing his sword to land by Tsunami before he tackled her off Gill as Itzalid belatedly gave his signal in Inferno's mind:

_Now._

Thunder growled overhead as Inferno seized Gill and leapt into the air as guards belatedly came at him and his thrashing prisoner.

Gill dwarfed him utterly and his wings screamed at the effort to lift them both, but lift them he did, the wind helping him rise.

A guard that came at him with a spear was struck by a bolt of lightning from the freak storm and still Inferno climbed.

Another was intercepted by Priscilla, who whipped him across the face in an elegant twist of her body through the air, before sending him plummeting coated in ice as she fulfilled her end of their bargain.

He cleared the web of cables, hearing shouts coming from the pillars, mostly from the SeaWings, though IceWings were calling Priscilla; begging for their own freedom.

Inferno ducked to the side as another guard flew at him and his grip on Gill slipped.

The bigger dragon began to fall, only to be stopped.

Lightning cracked around them and the storm closed in.

Without thinking, Inferno dived as the wind howled, forming a vortex as rain and hail came pelting in from all sides, accompanied by dazzling sheets of lightning, all converging on Gill.

There was an almighty crash as he came in to land and he, along with the gathered crowd all looked to the sky as a deafening roar echoed out along with an explosion of lightning from where Gill had been.

And there, shrugging off the twisted wreckage of the manacles on his wings was Gill, though it was obvious he wasn't the same dragon that had been dragged into the sky:

Where before, his scales had been green, now they were a deep blue fading to green around the edges and whorls and stripes of luminescent yellow rippled over his body.

Inferno didn't have time to gawk or question the wisdom of what he'd just done though as Priscilla tackled a guard from the air as she dove at him, before landing beside him.

"What now?" She asked, her incongruously child-like voice quivering with some emotion Inferno couldn't quite identify.

More guards swept into the arena, levelling spears at them.

Slowly, Inferno backed up until he was adjacent to Tsunami.

"What're you doing here?" Tsunami hissed.

"There's a bit of a to-do list." Inferno admitted. "Not sure about that last bit, but freeing you and the others then escaping again are next."

"Just what is the meaning of this?" Hissed Scarlet, glowering down at Inferno.

"Nothing personal, your majesty." He replied with a short bow. "And I wouldn't want to bore you with the drama and the intrigue, so I'll keep this short." He added.

Blood red lightning arced across the sky.

"You need not speak for me."

Itzalid glided into the arena and landed with a refined elegance that spoke of great self-control.

"You are the one who commands this charnel house?" He said, looking directly at Scarlet.

"Do I need to lock you on your spire for another few months?" Scarlet said archly. "Take them." She hissed, Burn shifting restlessly beside her.

There was a thunderclap and the guards dropped their weapons with yelps, lightning arcing between the metal hafts.

"You must stop this." Itzalid said, as though Scarlet had politely answered his question. "Something has been drawn here by all the blood shed and the lives ended in this arena. Something with the power to render this land barren and lifeless."

Scarlet snorted.

"You think to ruin my hatchday with such wild claims? What could possibly stand against the entirety of my Citadel?" She asked.

As if in answer, lightning flashed down, earthing in the sand and an eerie howling on the edge of hearing began.

"The Dark Master of Convexity." Itzalid said grimly. "Have you forgotten the teachings of the Ancestors, Queen?" He asked. "Stop this. Before it is too late."

"Enough!" Scarlet snapped. "Kill them all." She ordered.

It was then that the sky split.

The sand of the arena floor was swept away by a howling gale that blew in from nowhere and the parched rock beneath wept blood that began to pool and from it clusters of crystal began to grow.

"Flee!" Itzalid shouted as panic erupted in the crowd as ghostly humanoid warriors in black armour stepped from the air and arose from the stones. "Flee for your lives!" He added to the hesitating guards.

* * *

Malefor set his claws in the fracture in reality he'd forced and heaved.

The rift grew.

Just one taste…

The Night of Eternal Darkness had fallen and the moons had begun to eclipse.

Some of the lost souls summoned by its descent were pushed before him like leaves before a storm, while the majority flowed towards his stronghold like the tide.

Inexorably, he was being pulled by it as well and it was a call he yearned to answer, but he needed to taste…

Just once, so he didn't forget…

So he could return a conqueror once his task within the Dragon Realms was complete.

**Well.**

**Now I'm going to see if I can properly do a climactic struggle.**

**The next chapter or two ought to be fun.**

**Thank you to MCZ for reviewing and also to everyone who's favourited and followed.**

'**til next time.**


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